Alias
by sailorraven34
Summary: Alia, Tobias and Angelique Malpense haven't seen their parents in seven years, so when Alia is invited on a mission that might lead her to them, she's desperate to go. Unfortunately, nothing is as it seems... Sequel to And Then There Was Cheese.
1. Prologue

_Natalie plucked the daisy from its stem and held it out to her brother. "Here."_

_Alex took it in his chubby fingers and started to slowly pull the petals off. _

"_No, no!" Natalie grabbed it back, trying to make the petals stick back on. It didn't work. _

"_I wanted to give that to Mommy!" Natalie yelled. "Stupid…"_

_She aimed a kick at Alex, missing on purpose. Then she turned and started running off through the grass._

Stupid brother… I never wanted him anyway. And now I'm going to be stuck with a sister, too…

_Oh! There they were- more daises! _

_She knelt down to pick one._

"_You?"_

_She turned. _

"_How did you get younger, Natalya?" asked the man standing behind her. "Did you find out my secret?"_

_She turned, dropping the daisies. "Who are you?" She took a step backwards- this guy was creeping her out. She suddenly regretted wandering so far from her family. _

"_Stay away from her!"_

_Her mother was suddenly there, picking her up and hugging her tightly. "Who are you?" Raven narrowed her eyes. "What do you want with my daughter?!"_

"_You are a fool, Natalya." the man said, not taking his eyes off of Natalie. "Someday soon you will learn this… and then you'll be sorry."_

_**Twenty eight years later…**_

_Alia flicked the safety off her pistol and pointed it at the shadowy figures around her. Instantly, her world dissolved into numbers and trajectories. She smiled. She liked this world much better than the confusing one she'd been born into. She fired, and heard the grunt that meant she'd hit her target. _

_She continued down the narrow dark road, pulling her hood up over her head and holstering the pistol. She was almost there._

_Then a girl appeared out of nowhere and landed on the road in front of her. She had long dark hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was very pale, and there was blood on her cheek, making her look like a vampire. _

"_You aren't going anywhere." she said, pulling a bloody knife from her belt. _

"_You're the one who took Angelique." Alia growled. _

"_The little girl?" The girl smiled. "She was fun to kill."_

_Alia pulled out the gun and pointed it at the girl's head-_


	2. Chapter 1

It would have been hard for Alia to miss the envelope, as it smacked her on the head.

"OW!" she exclaimed, snapping out of her dream.

"Sorry!" squealed two tiny voices.

Alia picked up the envelope and noticed that it was addressed to Natalya Serov.

"Huh?" she said aloud.

"I found it." Raven said. He and his sister Saffron were sitting next to her. Alia sighed. Their mother had left when they were little children, so she always seemed to end up with them. Raven was seven and Saffron was six and they were always causing trouble.

Angelique flopped down onto the bench next to them. "Thanks for waking me up, Allie." she grunted.

"I saved you breakfast." Alia said, pulling something out of her pocket and handing it to her.

"Half a muffin doesn't count as breakfast." Angelique tossed it onto the table. "Besides, it's lunch."

"Well, Francisco saw me with it and started yelling at me for having it in class, so what was I supposed to do?" Alia sighed.

Saffron tugged on her sleeve. Alia sighed. "_What_?"

"This." Saffron handed her a sheet of fancy looking paper. "It's from the council and it's for you."

###

Poppy scooped up a handful of snow in her hands and threw it up in the air. She laughed as it fell to earth, settling in her dark hair and eyelashes.

"What are you doing out here? It's dangerous!" Otto scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder. "If he finds you here-"

"But I want to play!" Poppy yelled, wriggling in his grasp. "Why are you all so grouchy?!" Poppy yelled. "And where's my brother?!"

Otto looked past Poppy towards the spot in the garden where they'd buried Poppy's twin brother, Nico, yesterday. "Your mum's looking for you, Poppy."

"I'm hiding from her!" Poppy said, fighting even harder to get free as they entered their cell.

"Poppy!" Natalie yelled, grabbing her daughter from Otto. "What the heck!?" Diana, clinging to her mother's hip, tugged at her sister's foot.

"'Ook." she said, pointing to her mouth. There was a hole where her tooth had been before.

"What happened?" Otto asked.

"She fell." Natalie said. Otto picked his daughter up and kissed the top of her head.

"Were you running around and causing trouble?" he asked.

Diana nodded, shoving her chubby hand in her mouth. Otto laughed. "She takes after her mother, then."

"Shut up." Natalie grunted.

"I saw Laura." Alex said, standing behind his sister.

"How is she?" Otto said.

"Why, don't you talk anymore?" Natalie said.

"Not after Diana was born." Otto shrugged. "I can see why."

"To answer your question, no, she was not okay." Alex said. "She seemed to be in pretty serious trouble, actually."

"What's wrong?" Natalie asked.

Alex sighed.

"Viktor found H.I.V.E."


	3. Chapter 2

**I got the cover done really fast this time... oh, and I changed it for Under Fire if you want to look...**

**I don't even know if anyone can see the covers very well... ah well. **

Alia flattened down her hair as she stood outside the office. It was useless. As usual, it just sprang straight back up. She sighed and opened the door.

Max, Viktor and Ivan were sitting in from of Miss Heath's office, all of them looking very guilty, covered in green slime and talking at once.

Alia blinked. Whatever. She cleared her through, then held up the letter. "Umm…"

"Please!" said one of the triplets.

"Tell her we didn't do it!" said another.

"We didn't mean to- I mean, it wasn't us!" the last one said.

"I'll deal with you three later." Miss Heath straightened the bulging file belonging to the triplets on her desk. "Sit, Malpense."

She sat.

"Due to your abilities, certain people have decided to send you on a special mission." Miss Heath sighed. "I didn't approve of this, but given as you've gotten a nearly perfect score on every test we've even given you-"

Alia shifted. Actually, she'd never properly taken any of the tests. She'd always cheated. But the cheating was actually a lot harder than the tests, so she was testing herself in a way…

"I didn't have a lot of grounds to refuse." The woman shrugged. "So. You and your brother-"

"My brother?!" Alia blurted. "You never said anything about sending Tobias!"

"He's had the same results as you… in fact, he was supposed to come with you to see me…"

"He probably got lost on his way to the bathroom or something." Alia said, rolling her eyes. _What a hopeless dweeb._

"You'll leave in four hours. There is no need to pack anything."

"Where am I going?" Alia asked.

"They didn't tell me." Miss Heath looked her straight in the eye. "This is all a very mysterious set-up. I have no idea what's going on." Close up, Alia noticed that she really wasn't that old, probably only her mother's age. She'd been demoted from a higher position to teach at H.I.V.E. and she had lasted the longest of all the headmasters they'd had after Natalie had left. She was pretty too.

Alia stood up. "So can I continue with my classes as usual?" _Not like I'm learning anything. It would be loads easier on everyone if I could just read the text book and teach myself._

"Yes, go ahead."

"Hey, is this the bathroom?" Tobias said, yawning as he wandered in.

"No." Alia grunted. "Now come on. I'll fill you in on the way- I don't want us to be late."

"You're gonna be late anyway…"

"Shut up!"


	4. Chapter 3

Laura woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. It was Gracie.

"Where's my brother?" Her daughter's speech was halting and awkward, but she was talking and that was all that Laura could wish for.

She pointed to the corner.

"Is he still alive?"

Laura shrugged. _I don't know. _ she signed._ If he is he won't be for much longer._

"I don't think Viktor's going to kill him." Gracie said.

_Why not?_

Gracie shrugged. "Did you see my dad?"

She nodded.

"Ah, you're awake."

Laura turned. Viktor was carrying his newborn son in his arms.

"He's still alive." Laura said flatly.

"Of course he is." Viktor said.

That was one of the few bad things about living with this man. Every time she had a baby, he always killed it and then denied doing it. Her situation could have been a lot worse, though. Viktor treated her kindly and made sure she always had whatever she wanted. He didn't even stop her from talking to Otto- not that she wanted to talk to that traitor.

"I'll be leaving for a little while soon." He kissed the top of her head. "Do you want to stay with your friends?"

She considered. "Sure."

"Okay. I'll take you later this afternoon." He set her son in her arms. "I think he's hungry. How about you?"

Astonished, yes. Hungry… "No."

"Well, try and eat something." Viktor said.

###

Sepia coughed. Otto glanced at her, lying very still in the bed she shared with Alex and her youngest son Matthias.

"She's worse." Alex muttered, snatching Sepia's hand and rubbing it. He swore.

"Claire?" Otto asked.

"I don't know." Alex said. "Ella was better the last time I saw her, though."

"I hate everyone being sick." Poppy growled. "No one wants to play with me…" She sighed. "And now my hands are cold."

"Don't go outside in the snow then." Natalie said irritably. "You've been a bad, bad girl, Poppy."

"I know." Poppy said happily.

"Well, don't be so happy about it." Natalie muttered.

"Bad girl!" Poppy giggled. "Momma, you're funny."

"That wasn't intended to be funny." Natalie grunted. "Be careful or you'll end up like my mum."

"Yay!" Poppy started running around in circles. "Pony, pony, I want a pony!"

"You have too much energy." Natalie grunted.

"At least she's not sick." Alex muttered. "Besides, she probably gets it from Hope."

Sepia sat up. "Why is it so loud in here?"

"Poppy, you woke Sepia up!" Natalie yelled.

"You're being just as loud…"

"THAT'S IT!" Natalie bellowed. "I AM GOING TO HUNT YOU DOWN AND TICKLE YOU TO DEATH SO HELP ME GOD-"

"Shh!" Alex snapped. "You woke Ella up." He started towards the bed where Diana was.

"You have too many kids." Natalie said.

"I have less kids then you do! There's only three of them! You have four!"

"You're going to have four in a few months, so hah!" Natalie yelled, poking Alex in the forehead. She had Poppy slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"You just want to argue with someone, don't you?" Otto said.

"SHUT UP OR I'LL TICKLE YOU TOO!"


	5. Chapter 4

The hotel room was small and plain. Alia sat down on her bed. There was a envelope on the bed.

_Come down to the lobby in one hour. Be prepared._

_Prepared for what? _Alia thought. She shrugged. _It didn't matter._

Tobias knocked on her door. She opened it and he came in, sitting down next to where she had been. The door shut behind him, and there was a clicking sound. Alia tugged on the doorknob. "They locked us in!"

"Oh." Tobias leaned back. "I wonder if there are others."

"Probably. The two of us can't do everything all by ourselves." She bit her lip. "Something about this feels weird."

"Well, we've dived in headfirst, Ally. We can't get out." Tobias shrugged. "Besides, I think it'll be fun."

"Fun?" Alia rolled her eyes. "You have a strange definition of fun."

"You're enjoying this as well, aren't you? You like secrets."

"Some of them." _Not secret locations of bases in Russia, though. _She yawned. "So, we have time to kill." She went over to the table above the bed. "We have a TV… want to watch?"

"Nah." Tobias pulled out his blackbox. "There's something I want to read."

"What, a history of boring computer codes?"

"Why do you think they're so boring? You're just as good with computers as I am-"

"It's different." Alia insisted.

"Whatever you say, sis." Tobias yawned. "Mmm… this is kind of boring, though."

"I wish Angelique was here." Alia muttered.

"Why?"

"Because she'd do something stupid and it would entertain me." Alia pulled her hair back into a ponytail, then let it down, then twisted it into a bun. "Plus she's so cute she can make anyone do anything."

"She can?"

"You never noticed?" Alia laughed. "I guess you should get your head out of your books."

"At least I don't cheat." Tobias growled.

"Cheat? I don't know what you're talking about."

They sat in silence for the rest of the time until the door finally opened. They left the room and headed for the elevator. It seemed to be moving especially slow. Alia yawned.

"Maybe I'll push all the buttons when we get out… just to annoy the next guy who comes along…"

"Alia…" Tobias said. "Um… we've gone past the lobby." He frowned. "We're past the basement too… and the screen that shows the floors is black…"

Alia blinked.

"Well, that's not good."


	6. Chapter 5

The doors finally slid open. Alia burst out.

"Are you okay?" Tobias asked.

"Claustrophobic." Alia grunted. She grabbed his arm. "Come on."

The area they were in seemed like an exact copy of the lobby, only everything was darker colored and the fist/globe logo was everywhere. Alia went up to the front desk.

"Um, I'm Alia Malpense… they told me to come down here." She said.

The man looked up.

"Evan?!" Alia gasped.

"Oh." The boy stared at her. "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" Alia gasped.

"My mum got us out." Evan shrugged. "Ian's somewhere around here."

"What about Sparrow?" Alia asked.

"I have no idea where she is." Evan sounded tired. "Probably still with Viktor."

"Oh." Alia said. She flushed. "Erm… where am I supposed to go?"

"Down the hall. There's a man there." Evan looked away from her. "Go fast. He doesn't like waiting."

"Right. Come on, Tobias." She turned around but couldn't see him. "Great." She sighed and quickly spotted him a few feet away talking to someone pushing a cart covered in computers. _Typical._

After she took care of her brother, she went down the hall. A man was standing at the end.

"Colonel Francisco!?" she blurted.

The man turned around and Alia saw that it wasn't him. But he was still glaring at her.

"Hey…" Alia said, taking a step back. "I'm, um, Alia-"

"I know who you are." The man stuck out his hand. "My name is Cross, you follow my orders, and that's all you need to know, okay?"

"Er… sure." Alia said.

"Follow me." Cross said.

He led her into a narrow room. She sat down on one of the chairs.

"That's not for you." Cross growled. She sprang up like her butt had been burned, then tripped over another chair and went sprawling onto the floor. Her chin smacked into the floor and began to bleed.

"Get up." Cross said coldly. She picked herself up off the floor.

"Alia…" Tobias said. "You've got a cut-"

"I _know_." She swiped the blood off her chin irately.

_This day's off to a promising start._


	7. Chapter 6

Alia hugged her arms around herself. The people coming into the room only seemed to be a few years older then herself. Evan was there too. Their eyes met, and then he looked away, blushing.

_Does he like me?_ She shrugged. _Don't have time for that now…_

"Alia!" Tobias hissed.

She looked up. Everyone was staring at me.

"Yes!" she blurted.

"She means _no_, of course." Tobias said, jabbing her in the arm. "_No_, she hasn't seen Mum and Dad in seven years, nor does she know the location of the Glasshouse."

"Right!" Alia said, mentally kicking herself. _Ack, ack, ack. Much more of this and I might just go and jump of a cliff. _

"There we go then." said a girl.

"Okay." One of the boys stood up. "Then this is the plan…"

###

Laura felt awkward standing in the doorway of the cell, with her hair brushed and her clothes clean and with no signs of not having enough to eat. The little girl next to Natalie stared at her, then ran over and grabbed Gracie's hand.

"Play with me!" she demanded.

"She can't hear." Laura said gently.

"Oh." The girl blinked. Gracie smiled. She smiled back.

"Um, this is Poppy." Otto said. He was holding a younger girl, her fingers sticky with some brown substance. Laura looked away. She had Otto's eyes.

Poppy grabbed Laura's arm and swung it back and forth. "Hi! Who are you? I'm Poppy! I have a brother but I don't know where he is. His name is Nico. He hated bugs. Sometimes he kills them on purpose, and once he ate an ant-"

"Poppy." Natalie's face had gone very pale. "_Please_ stop talking about him."

Otto squeezed her arm. To Laura's relief, Natalie jerked away. "She's the one you're married to, go bug her!"

"Well?" Otto said, turning to Laura "Are you prepared to be bugged?"

"Hugged, maybe." Laura smiled.

"Daddy, I don't like her." Diana whispered.

"Hush." Otto hissed.

"Make her go away!" Diana forced her way out of Otto's arms and ran out the door past Laura, pushing her out of the way as she did so.

Laura stared at her.

"I'm sorry." Natalie said. "She's not normally like this-"

"No…" Laura mumbled. "It's fine…"

_I bet she thinks I'm going to steal her daddy._

_Well, she's not wrong…_


	8. Chapter 7

Laura watched as Natalie pressed both Diana and Poppy to her chest and climbed into bed. "She's cute."

"Huh?" Otto sat down against the wall. "Yeah, I guess." He took Laura's hands and pulled her down next to him. "I swear we did it _twice_, Laura."

"In your whole life or just since you've been captured?"

"My whole life? Four times."

"Then I get to slap you four times."

Otto sighed. "Okay, I deserve it."

"Why couldn't you have shared a bed with Timothy?" Laura pounded his chest with her fist. She was crying a little now. "Why do you have to be such an idiot?!"

"I'm really sorry. What can I say?"

"And I'm sorry for kissing Alex a couple of times." Laura said slyly.

"You what?"

"You heard me."

Otto gritted his teeth. "I hate what Viktor does to you, it makes me want to rip him apart."

"Well, now you understand how I feel about you and Natalie cuddling. It makes me sick." Laura grunted.

"I already apologized." Otto pulled her closer. "What more can I do?"

"Kill Natalie, I don't know." Laura sighed. "I don't want her to die but I want her to stay away from you." She glanced at the sleeping woman in the bed on the other side of the room.

"I'll stay away from her." Otto said. "Nothing else will happen, Laura." He kissed the top of her head. "Now you should get some sleep."

###

Tobias slept during the car ride but Alia couldn't. She spent most of her time staring out the window and playing a game on her blackbox. It seemed like an eternity later that they finally arrived.

"What are we doing?" Tobias said, sitting up.

"We're going to kidnap someone." Alia said. "Weren't you paying attention?"

"Why should I, when you're so good at it?" Tobias yawned. "I hope no one has to get hurt."

"No one's going to get hurt." Alia lied. Evan and his friends had told them that if someone got in their way, it was okay to kill them. _'No one will notice' _had been the exact words. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She'd never killed anyone before but she knew how and she figured it would be pretty easy to do…


	9. Chapter 8

Alia picked the lock and opened the door. Immediately, a beeping noise began. An alarm.

And then something odd happened. The world changed, all the color sucked from it. She zoomed in on the alarm and silently told it to _shut up._

And it did.

"Good job." Tobias said.

"Look out!" Alia hissed as he took a step forward. He stumbled, crashed into a spindly table and knocked a vase with flowers in it onto the floor, where it shattered with a huge crash.

"&&*(, you just _had_ to do that!" Alia grabbed her brother and yanked him up the stairs. They nearly ran over a little girl with brown hair.

"Hey… she's the one we're supposed to kidnap, right?" Tobias said dazedly.

Alia smacked him on the head and grabbed the little girl by her shoulders, clapping one hand over her mouth. "Knock her out, Tobias!"

"Um, there's a guy pointing a gun at me." Tobias said.

Alia looked up. Sure enough, the man in front of her was pointing a gun at her brother. She sighed and tossed the little girl at her brother. She pulled the gun she was carrying out and shot the man through the head.

Tobias gaped at her.

"Don't just _stand _there, move!" Alia yelled. _Don't think, just do._

They tore out of the house, the girl slung over Tobias's shoulder. They made it to the car. As soon as Tobias shut the door, the driver floored the accelerator and they sped away.

###

Angelique tossed Saffron off of her. "For crying out loud, you two! I'm supposed to baby sit you, not become your personal climbing tree."

"Sorry." Saffron stood up. "Can we play with grapplers?"

"No." Angelique said firmly. "Grapplers are _not_ for playing." She tugged Saffron onto her lap. She loved looking after Natalie's kids… she loved looking after anyone's kids. But on days like this, when Saffron had so much energy she couldn't focus on anything for more than three or four minutes, and when Raven was destroying things for fun, it was just a chore.

She stood up and got an apple down from the counter. "Here you go."

"I want cake." Saffron said, narrowing her eyes.

"But you can't _have_ cake." Angelique growled. "So you might as well-"

BANG!

Saffron fell forward, blood streaming from the hole in her chest. Angelique looked up and saw… Hope.


	10. Chapter 9

Ivan looked up. "What was that?"

"Well, it sounded like a gunshot." Viktor said, not looking up from his computer.

"I know, but why are they firing guns? They aren't allowed to do that."

"Since when does anyone listen to the rules at this school?" Max said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, aren't we _hacking_ the computer right now?" Viktor reminded them.

"To get more pictures of our parents." Ivan said. "But someone with a gun could be an attacker and stuff-"

"Are you scared?" Max mocked.

"No, but it could be fun to beat someone up." Ivan pointed out.

"Yeah, okay." Viktor stood up. "Let's do it."

###

Hope sighed. "Oh, close your mouth. It's not like you still thought I was dead-"

"But Mum and Dad and Natalie got captured… so I kind of figured you were captured too." Angelique said. "And why did you shoot Saffron?"

She wasn't even looking at her attacker. Instead she was examining Saffron's injury.

"I'm evil." Hope sighed. "Step away from the girl."

"No." Angelique growled. "She's hurt."

"That was kind of the point of me shooting her." Hope pointed the gun at Angelique. "Now _step_ away!"

"No." Angelique said.

"I _really_ don't want to shoot you." Hope said. "But I will-"

The gun flew out of her hand.

She whipped around and saw Viktor reeling it in with a rope made of duct tape. She gritted her teeth. "Oh, look, it's the pathetic trio. Now give me that back."

"Pathetic?" Max said, grabbing her legs and wrapping them with the sticky stuff.

"We're the epic Duct Tape Triplets!" Ivan growled, covering her mouth.

"LET ME GO!" Hope bellowed as best as she could. Angelique looked up at the triplets.

"Thank you for saving me." She said. "Now we have to get Saffron to the hospital."

"Why would we do that?" Ivan asked.

Angelique looked down. The wound in Saffron's chest was gone.

"What the heck!?" she muttered.

"I don't know what's going on… but I think we should probably move." Ivan said.

"Why?" Angelique asked.

"Because of this grenade." Viktor said, pointing to object in Ivan's hand.

"Oh." Angelique frowned. "Wait _what?!_"


	11. Chapter 10

Laura woke up feeling nervous and feverish. She stood up and looked around. It was dark. The others were still sleeping. But something was keeping her from doing so.

Otto groaned. "What's the matter?" he mumbled.

"Nothing." Laura whispered. At the same time, an icy chill went down her spine. She shivered and pressed closer to Otto.

"I feel it too."

She glanced towards the voice and saw Natalie looking down at her. Laura looked away from her quickly. _Thief._

###

Alia's sleep was troubled, but not because of the murder. Dreams of fire followed her the entire night. After she woke up the fourth time, she left her room and went to get some soda from the vending machine down the hall.

"You okay?"

She looked up. Evan's hair was messed up and she found herself wanting to flatten it like she'd always done to her father when she was a child.

"Yeah, just having dreams where people light my family on fire." She knew the answer was wrong the instant after it slipped from her mouth.

"Wow." Evan smirked at her. "Does that happen often to you?"

"No." She pulled out her can of soda and opened it, drinking it very fast and looking away from Evan. He was making her uncomfortable. As she turned to walk away, he reached out and grabbed the belt of her bathrobe.

Alia jerked away. "What the-"

"Sorry." Evan said. "It's twisted, that's all…"

They stood there in awkward silence for a moment. Alia rubbed her head, which was beginning to ache.

"Are you okay?" he repeated.

"Yes, I told you I'm fine." Her head was really throbbing now. The colors were vanishing from her sight, everything turning a single color- red, like the blood on the man that she'd shot. Her stomach twisted and she fell forward.

Evan grabbed her before she could hit the floor. Her hands curled on his chest. It felt strange, unnatural, and yet…

She gritted her teeth.

"Alia, are you in pain? You're grimacing at me."

"No… not really-"

She clutched at him even tighter as everything went red.

And when she woke up, it was not in her own bed.


	12. Chapter 11

Tobias looked around. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be back down on the secret G.L.O.V.E. level. But he had to find Alia. Otherwise who knew what trouble she would get into?

"You! What are you doing?"

He turned to see Cross.

"Oh, it's good to see you, sir!" Tobias said, thinking fast. He couldn't just tell him that Alia was running loose- then she would probably get into a lot of trouble. He started towards the man. "I was just…" _Think you idiot, think!_ "Just looking for a computer! I had this idea-"

"Well, go look somewhere else then." Cross grunted. He grabbed Tobias and spun him towards the elevator. Desperately, Tobias cast one last glance around and spotted Evan.

"Oh, there you are!" Tobias yelled.

Evan looked up.

Cross sighed. "Serov, come over here and deal with your friend."

Evan approached and as soon as they were out of range of Cross's hearing Tobias hissed "Have you seen my sister?"

"Yes, she's in my room right now." Evan said.

"She is?! What the heck is she doing there?"

"Um… we sort of…" Evan blushed.

"What the heck?!" Tobias spluttered. Evan and Alia barely knew each other. Even though sometimes- okay most of the time- she didn't think before she acted, it was out of character for his sister to do something _that _rash…

He suddenly remembered a conversation he'd had with his mum a long time ago.

"_Why do Natalie and Otto have a daughter?"_

_Laura sighed. "Sometimes… your father loses control and does something that he'll regret later." _

"_And that happened… with Natalie?"_

"_Yes." She pulled him close. "Someday when you're older that might happen to you- or Alia. So you have to be careful not to let your feelings run away with you like Otto's."_

"I… sorry." Evan said. "Here, come with me and I'll take you to her."

"Why can't she come?" Tobias demanded. He need to talk to Alia, to explain and fast.

"She's not feeling her best." Evan said.

"Well then, we'd better hurry." Tobias said, starting to walk faster and trying not to think about what that might entail.


	13. Chapter 12

Sparrow twisted away from the blow. Hope smiled coldy. "You can't run forever, little sparrow."

"I don't care." Sparrow said through gritted teeth. "What you did to that little boy was so sick-"

SLASH!

Sparrow started down at the cut on her wrist. It immediately began to bleed. She clapped her hand over it. "What the heck!? You don't even know what your doing-"

"Hope, _what_ exactly are you doing to her?"

Hope jumped. "Oh… nothing."

Hallie frowned at her older sister. "Didn't Viktor specifically say _not_ to hurt her no matter what she does?"

"I wasn't going to hurt her _badly_." Hope said calmly. "Just rough her up a little-"

"If she gets cut, if she even gets a _bruise_, she could bleed to death." Hallie hissed.

Sparrow nodded vigorously. "And she killed one of those kids Natalie's got just because he strayed into her path-"

"You killed him?!" Hallie bellowed.

"We've still got one of the twins, haven't we? It doesn't matter."

"He's a little kid! You have siblings-"

"I'm going." Hope grunted.

As Hallie watched her leave. She couldn't help being annoyed by her sister's cool attitude. They were family, weren't they?

She helped Sparrow to her feet. "Come on. Let's go."

###

Hope shut the door to her quarters with a click. She wished everyone would just leave her alone. People in general had begun to annoy her. She wasn't sure when it had started but she wished Viktor would just go and kill them all.

"Hope."

She turned around but couldn't see anything. The voice was familiar but she hadn't heard it in a long time. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

"Come out or I'll shoot." she said coldly, drawing her gun.

"I have now doubt that you would." said the voice. "Viktor is going to send you away soon. Meet me at the tallest hotel in the city by five o'clock tomorrow, or I promise you will regret it."

Hope narrowed her eyes. "Stop fooling around or I'll blow your head off."

"You wouldn't dare do that to your own flesh and blood would you?"

"You know that I will." Hope said. But her voice was shaking.

She had just realized who it was that had spoken…


	14. Chapter 13

Alia was curled up on the edge of Evan's bed. "I feel like crap…" She mumbled as Tobias poked her.

"Like, actually physically sick?" Tobias said. He sounded worried.

"Yes, idiot." Alia pulled her hands over her head.

"Do you think you might have gotten pregnant?" Tobias asked.

"No way, I'm not that stupid." Alia snapped.

"Um… that's debatable." Tobias muttered.

"You should take a shower." Evan said, tossing her clothes to her. "You're getting another mission."

Alia rolled over. "I don't wannnna… urrg…"

"Are you okay?" Evan kissed the top of her head, making her blush. "I can get you breakfast."

"No breakfast." Alia hauled herself to her feet.

"Oh, sure, you'll get up for him." Tobias grumbled.

"We're getting a new mission." Evan said. "And she's got to be there…"

As Alia left the room, Tobias glared at Evan. "If you got her pregnant-" He shook his head. "Why did you go along with it? You two barely know each other!"

"I don't really know." Evan shrugged. "I'm sure it's okay. Next time I'll be careful-"

"Next time?!" Tobias hissed. He grabbed Evan's shirt and yanked it forward. "There won't _be_ a next time, got it?!"

"Got it." Evan said morosely.

###

Hope hugged her knees close to her chest. No one had ever bothered to tell her anything about being a grownup. While she had been unconscious her body had changed from a child to an adult and she had no idea of what Otto had done to her… or what had happened to her in the next nine months. When her child had been born, she'd ordered it sentenced to death immediately.

Viktor must have ignored her. Either that, or she was seeing ghosts. Which wasn't possible.

Her phone rang. She picked it up. "Hello?"

"This is Viktor. I need you in Rome by tonight. It's important."

"Did you kill it?"

"Did I kill what?"

"My baby. Did you kill it?"

"Yes, I did." Viktor paused. "Is something wrong, Hope?"

"No, nothing. I will be there." Hope slipped the phone back in her pocket.

Behind her, she heard laughter. She turned around and saw Sparrow standing in the door to her room.

"Is there something I need to know?" she asked coolly.

"No." Sparrow smiled, then walked off, still laughing.


	15. Chapter 14

Alia got to sit at the table with Evan this time. It felt good, because his hand was making slow circles on her leg with his hand. Tobias was glaring at her from across the room, but she was pretending not to notice.

Apparently, this time they were going to another place- she couldn't remember where- and they were kidnapping someone again. She yawned. She was exhausted from the late night before… but why was she so tired when she couldn't remember any of it?

"Alia?"

She looked up. Tobias was staring at her. "I said, what did you want for breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry." She mumbled, leaning against Evan's shoulder.

"Really?" Tobias looked concerned. "Are you feeling sick? Do you need medicine or-"

"I'm fine!" Alia yelled. "Leave me alone. God!"

"Sorry, sorry." Tobias said, starting off.

"Have you heard a word anyone's said all morning?" Evan asked, poking Alia in the shoulder.

"A little bit." Alia sighed. "Can we go back upstairs? I don't want to do this right now…"

"Okay."

###

Angelique felt the blast knock her forward. She shielded Saffron as she fell, then slowly picked herself up.

"Well, that was fun." Viktor said, standing up.

"What's this?" Ivan said, pulling a file folder off his face. "Project Angel…"

"Probably something Nero was starting but never finished." Angelique said dismissively. "There's a lot of those floating around."

"No… this is Natalie's handwriting." He frowned. "Wow. You'd better take a look at this."

###

Alia slept the entire way on the Shroud on the way to wherever they were going- in the cargo area with Evan. She was hiding from Tobias who kept talking to her, asking her how she was feeling. It was driving her crazy. She didn't want to see anyone but Evan.

"Hey, are you okay?" Evan said gently. "You seem very tired."

"I am tired. Why aren't you?" Alia yawned.

"You know, we're going undercover for a little while." Evan said.

"Sounds fun." Alia smiled. "I like pretending."

"I'm awful at it." Evan said. "You're going to have to help me…"

"Easy. Don't screw up." Alia crossed her arms.

"Isn't that you do?" Evan cupped her chin in his hand, titling it upward to see her better. "You screw up and rush into things and Tobias cleans up after you?"

"I do not!"

"Yeah, you do." Evan said softly. "You barely know me. Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Yes." Alia said. She stood up. "I think we're there."

The bullet ricocheted of the metal just above her head. She ducked instinctively but Evan didn't notice and she heard him yell with pain. She turned back to help him but a figure in black knocked her over and her head crunched into the cold metal floor.


	16. Chapter 15

Her attacker was a girl with brownish hair in a gray jumpsuit, and she had a gun to Alia's head before she could say anything.

"Make a move and I'll shoot you and your boyfriend." she hissed. She had an accent, but Alia couldn't recognize it with her head throbbing like this.

Alia closed her eyes. She heard the sound of metal scraping against metal as the door opened and Tobias entered. He was carrying a machine gun that he looked like he might drop at any minute.

Her captor shifted so Tobias could clearly see his sister. "Try anything-"

"Yeah, yeah, got it." Tobias glared at her. Alia looked around as much as she dared and saw Evan lying on the floor, a girl that looked like the one who was holding her with her boot on his chest. He was bleeding rather badly but she couldn't tell from where. "We seem to be at a stand-off. So you can start by telling me who you are."

"I'm Bonnie." said the one holding me.

"Claudette." grunted the other.

"Now, who do you work for?" Tobias eyed them. "You realize that by attacking us you've made an enemy of G.L.O.V.E.-"

"But he said it would be safe." said Claudette, a confused expression crossing her face.

"Who?" said Tobias.

"Viktor." Alia said softly. Everyone looked at her.

"Yes, Viktor Serov is who we work for. How did you know?" Bonnie asked.

"We've met." Alia shifted slightly. "What's wrong with Evan?"

"I don't know." Bonnie said. "I don't really care either. Now keep still!"

Alia let herself go limp. Tobias sighed. "There are other armed people on-"

"Don't make me laugh, they won't come to your defense." Claudette sniffed.

"Are you sure?" Tobias asked.

"Enough of this." Claudette pointed a gun at Evan's head. "We don't need him, so if you don't come quietly we will kill-"

Alia bent over and head-butted Bonnie in the stomach. The girl fell back. Alia slammed her fist into her jaw and sent him spinning away from her. Tobias opened fire, and Alia ducked. Claudette held Evan in front of her as a shield.

"You don't want to hurt him, do you?" Claudette growled as Bonnie got to her feet.

Tobias tightened his jaw.

"No." Alia grunted. She pulled something from her pocket- her blackbox- and threw it at Claudette, knocking her out. Tobias fired at Bonnie again, and Alia grabbed her from behind and wrestled her to the ground.

She let go abruptly as her stomach flipped so harshly she threw up in her mouth. But by that time Tobias had knocked her unconscious.

"I wonder what that was all about." He said. "Hey- ALIA!"


	17. Chapter 16

Hope slipped into the bathroom and leaned her elbows on the sink. She rubbed a tiny bit of mascara off her eyelid and sighed. She could see why Viktor had picked her… she was the most attractive of his female employee's. But it was bothersome trying to find the man she was after in all the people at this stupid party…

She rubbed her head and winced as her earring scraped the palm of her hand. She felt for the other one, but it wasn't there. She glanced around on the floor, but saw nothing.

"Here."

She looked around, but she was the only one in the room. She felt a tiny jolt, like someone had given her a static shock and the earring was back in her ear.

"Are you who I think you are?" Hope said in a voice that was barely a whisper. "And if you are… that means that Overlord is alive somewhere, somehow?"

"Natalie told you everything, then?"

"Some things." Hope thought of Otto and flushed. "Not others."

"Then you know that since I'm not fully here, he's not fully here."

"Oh." Hope stood up. "Why are you here _now_?"

"Because I'm a guardian angel."

"Yeah, right. You kill for a living. Or you killed for a living. Are you dead?" She was starting back towards the busy room.

"Mostly."

"Natalie said you were dead. She said your legs were blown off and you bled to death before they could help you." Hope said coldly.

"Yes, that is what happened. He… tried to save me at the last second."

"Of course." Hope said. "Because he was an idiot."

"You love Otto. Does that make you an idiot?"

"Yes." Hope said. "Which is why I'm going to kill him if I ever see him."

"Lovely." There was a pause. "We're being watched."

"By who?"

"By whoever owns this place. I assume you're gatecrashing?"

"Naturally."

"Then Viktor wants you dead."

"Dead? I woke for him! Why would he want to kill me?"

"I don't know, but this place is swarming with G.L.O.V.E. councilmen. You need to get out of here before one of them recognizes you. There are armed men on all the balconies and I'm pretty sure you'd be taken out before you knew what hit you."

"I think you're doubting my abil-"

She felt herself being dragged forward by an invisible force. The bullet missed her by inches.

The voice sighed. "Too late."


	18. Chapter 17

Alia wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "I'm fine… fine…"

"You just threw up after…" Tobias looked scared, which she didn't understand. "We need to get you to a doctor so we can make sure…"

"I'm just sick, that's all." She stood up and staggered towards the door. She pressed the button to open it. Instantly, the whole room was filled with wind. She stumbled as Tobias hurriedly closed it.

"That's the loading ramp!" Tobias yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Wanted some fresh air." Alia sat down hard. "Can... water?"

"No." Tobias looked around. "We'd better go-"

The Shroud lurched suddenly, sending Tobias sprawling into his sister. He supported her and Evan as they got into the passenger compartment. Everyone there was unconscious.

"No one's piloting." Alia spun around, then shoved him into the window. "Wheee!"

"Alia…" Tobias decided to ignore him and instead went into the cockpit. He'd never steered a real one, just one in a simulation, but it was similar… ish-

Every single light in the cockpit went red and they dropped a couple feet. Tobias whipped around. "Alia! What are you doing?!"

"Piloting!" Alia said, then giggled.

###

Hope looked around, drawing a gun from the holster on her leg. "Who was that?!"

"It doesn't matter! We've got to get you out of here!"

The dragging continued. Hope jerked away. "I can walk, thanks."

"You don't need to walk, you need to run."

Hope sighed, then took off, shoving her way through the crowd of people. She left the building's elaborate lobby and was in her car when she felt another electric shock.

Hallie rolled down her window. "Going somewhere?"

"Yes, actually." Hope snapped.

"But the mission isn't complete yet." Hallie drew a knife from her belt and held it to Hope's chin. "Mine isn't, either."

"Why is he trying to kill me?" Hope asked.

"You broke the rules." Hallie said coldly.

"And you're a freak." Hope snarled. "You should be fifteen years old but you look my age."

"And I'm as strong as if I was your age too." Hallie growled. She started to slit Hope's throat but suddenly jerked back like someone had jumped onto her.

"Hope, go!"

Hope didn't even think twice before she gunned the engine and took off.

###

Hallie groaned as blood welled from the wound in her head. She couldn't even see anyone but she could feel that person's assault. Just before she lost consciousness, they became visible.

"Mum?" she whispered


	19. Chapter 18

Hallie gasped as everything faded to black. Well, almost everything. Her mother was standing in front of her, looking younger then she had when she'd died.

"Where are we?" she demanded.

Raven sat down. "We're dead."

Hallie frowned. "What?" She looked down at herself and saw that she was her true age again- thirteen. She was wearing her H.I.V.E. uniform, too.

"Well, I'm dead and I decided to bring you back here." Raven added. "Sit."

Hallie sat. Even though there didn't seem to be a ground, there also didn't really seem to be gravity, which made it okay. Well, relatively.

"You were born here." Raven said softly.

"No." Hallie said, rolling her eyes. "I was born in Overlord's base."

"This isn't my first time dying and coming back to life. I did the same thing about eighteen years ago. And when I died that time I was pregnant with you. We spent five years here, until Overlord became strong enough for me to get out."

"We?"

"You were born here." Raven said. "You grew up here, and when I came back to life I guess it restarted. That's probably why Viktor was able to age you so easily. You had five extra years you had lost."

Hallie's mind was spinning. "So… can I go back now?"

"No." Raven said. "You've been a bad girl, Hallie. We don't tolerate killing our siblings in this family."

"Siri deserved it. Her father-"

"Yes, maybe her father was Furan but she was _nothing_ like him." Raven hissed. "There was no reason for you to end her life- except for plainly and simply stating that you were a force to be reckoned with."

"I _am _a-"

"No, you're a tragically misled child." Raven sighed. "I wish I could have helped you but I didn't realize it in time that you'd been turned."

"Wait." Hallie frowned. "Weren't you and Nero separated you came back from being- being dead?"

"We went to a G.L.O.V.E. meeting and ended up staying overnight in a hotel. I guess we felt nostalgic, and you were made."

"But why are you telling me all this?" Hallie demanded. "And how dead are you, exactly? You sure don't seem like it to me."

"Have you known many dead people? I have a connection with Overlord. If one of us is still alive, even in the weakest possible form, the other must be as well. I can watch you. And lately, I've been able to help you and speak with you because… well, of Otto's 'incidents'."

"So this has nothing to do with the Angel Project." Hallie mused aloud.

"The Angel what?" Raven swore. "He's coming. We don't have much time. It's important that you know this because you're special. You should have died with me but you didn't so you must be-"

But whatever she was she couldn't hear as she was snatched away from her mother and into the cold grip of reality.


	20. Chapter 19

Tobias shoved Alia into the seat. "Just stay down, you idiot!" he yelled, and then rushed off.

Alia looked around, bleary and confused. Her head ached and her insides where trying to come outside. Evan was leaning against her, bleeding. He opened his eyes. "What… happened?"

"I don't know." Alia tried to say, but her mouth wasn't working properly and the letters all bled together into a mess.

Evan laughed. Then he grew serious. "Are you hurt?"

Alia shook her head. Tobias came towards them.

"I put us on auto pilot so we should be okay." Tobias said. "And I found a medical kit…" He brandished it at Evan. "Alia'll probably enjoy playing nurse."

Alia rolled her eyes.

"There's also a pregnancy test." Tobias muttered. "If-"

"It won't even pick anything up for a couple days." Evan said, taking the medical kit

"How do you know that?" Tobias demanded.

"My mom's a doctor, carrot top." Evan grunted, starting to bandage his shoulder.

"He's more like a tomato top." Alia said, tugging at Tobias's red curls.

"Enough." Tobias snapped. "Then we'll just have to wait and check, then." He squeezed Alia's hand. "If you need anything, call me."

Alia nodded, then turned to help Evan with his shoulder. As he started away from them, he glanced over his shoulder. The twins made eye contact, and Alia realized how worried he looked…

###

Alex tapped Natalie on the shoulder. She turned around and slammed a finger to her lips, pointing down at a sleeping Diana.

"Ella's dead." Alex hissed.

"Do you want me to help you with, um, her body?" Natalie muttered, looking uncomfortable.

"No, I need you to talk to Sepia." Alex said. "She's upset."

"I couldn't possibly think of why." Natalie rolled her eyes. "All right, I'm going…"

All of a sudden, she doubled over and clutched at herself, opening her mouth to scream. But no sound escaped her. Alex grabbed his sister and pulled her up onto the bed, stroking her hair. "Are you alright?"

Natalie jerked away from him, her face cherry red. "I don't know what just happened. All of a sudden… I just felt scared."

"That's odd." Alex stood up and looked around. Everyone else seemed to be unaffected. "Perhaps you're going crazy, Nat."

She hit him and stood up as well. "I'll go find Sepia-"

The next second, they were knocked flat by the shockwave of an explosion that made a huge noise and jolted Diana awake. Natalie scooped up her daughter. She and Alex exchanged a look, and without a word they both ran outside.


	21. Chapter 20

Natalie did not like explosions.

Her parents had died because Viktor had locked them in a room with a grenade. Her father had shielded her mother at the last second and had been blown to bits. There was nothing even left to bury. He'd bought her mother a few painful minutes, but nothing more. Raven had bled to death before anyone could help her. They'd burned her mother's body in the crater. And then she'd had to and pronounce herself headmistress of H.I.V.E-

"Natalie?" Alex asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm thinking about dead people." Natalie muttered.

"Lovely." Alex said. "Well, think about this instead." He pointed to where a large section of the base had been leveled. "Something's going on, Natalie. Something big."

But Natalie was looking somewhere else. She was staring at a gap in the electric fence that surrounded their little yard. "We can get out." She whispered.

"Not Sepia." Alex said. "She'd never make it and there's no way I'd put her through that in her condition. Which means… I stay too."

"Alex, you can't! He'll torture you trying to find us-"

"I'm not leaving her." Alex said stubbornly.

"Then you're an idiot." Natalie declared.

"Fine. I can settle for being an idiot." Alex said. "But seriously. I have to stay here and look after her and Ella and Mattias."

"They're all going to die, Alex!" Natalie yelled. "That's what happens to people when they get sick with no doctor! There's nothing you can do about it except come with us and survive!"

"I'd rather be dead then abandon Sepia." Alex snapped. "Wouldn't you do the same for Otto?"

Natalie crossed her arms grouchily.

"Yeah, you can't argue with that." Otto said. Laura, Timothy, Poppy and Gracie were right behind.

"But I- But he's my brother!" Natalie yelled.

"It's his choice." Timothy said, putting one hand on Natalie's shoulder. Natalie felt something, like she'd been shocked. She noticed Otto staring at her creepily.

"I'm not having any more kids." Natalie snapped.

"No- I don't like you anymore." Otto said.

"Er… what?"

"Sorry, that came out wrong." Otto scratched his head. "I mean normally when I look at you I start feeling like I'm going to lose control… but now it… doesn't."

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Natalie said.

"I think it means… that it's shifted to someone else." Otto frowned.

"You know, if it's one of your kids… you could be a grandpa at 35." Alex pointed out.

"I _don't_ want to think about that." Otto grunted.


	22. Chapter 21

Hallie opened her eyes. Viktor was leaning over her. "Honestly, you can't even handle the most simple of tasks?"

"I'm sorry." Hallie mumbled. She rolled over, still sleepy. Something was off. She looked down at her body and discovered that she was back in fifteen year old form. "Why did you want me to kill Hope anyway?"

"I just thought it might be interesting to see who was stronger." Viktor sighed. "The jury's still out on that one."

"I can track her down for you, if you want." Hallie said.

"No need, I'm sure she'll come back soon." Viktor said. "Anyway, we don't have time to waste. We have to head back to the base." He handed Hallie a bundle. Hallie looked down to see a small red face staring up at her. "Laura's son." Viktor explained. "I've got better things to do then look after brats."

A child with parents almost 50 years apart in age… Hallie shuddered. At least her parents had actually cared about each other.

"What's happening at the base?" Hallie asked.

"Some kid of attack." Viktor said. "I have to make sure no one got any stupid ideas about escaping…"

###

Alia blinked in the bright sunlight. Most of the people on board the ship had woken up by the time they'd arrived and were embarrassed about being knocked out by a pair of teenage girls. Her head had begun to clear, and she could focus fully on what she'd done.

Where was she supposed to start? She'd put herself in danger, she'd gotten herself a boyfriend she had no feelings for… and maybe even a baby. And she couldn't remember why. It was like someone had come in with a scalpel and removed the section of her memory.

Tobias tugged at her arm. "Come on, Alia. We have to go."

"Right. We have stuff to do." Alia started forward.

"You're going the wrong way!" Tobias called.

"Yeah, but there's a convenience store here, and I'm _hungry._" Alia complained.

"Well… at least you aren't feeling sick anymore." He tossed her a couple of bills. "Buy yourself some food."

Alia started off towards the store. As she was crossing the street, a woman raced past, nearly knocking her over. She stumbled, then regained her balance and kept going.

When she reached the other side, she saw the woman again and frowned. She seemed to be talking to no one. Alia blinked, then zeroed in on the woman's face.

She frowned. _What the-_

Then the woman vanished.


	23. Chapter 22

Hope screamed as she was carried up into the air. "MUM! PUT ME DOWN!"

"Sorry." Raven set her down on top of a tall building. In the shadow of a shed on top of the rood, Hope could see the faint outline of her mother. Specifically the ten foot across wings exploding from her back.

"I know, they're totally terrifying, right?" Raven smiled. "And watch this."

She plucked a feather from her wing and threw it. It stuck in the next building over, quivering ominously.

"You have _shuriken feathers?!_" Hope spluttered.

Raven's smile widened. "If I knew being dead was this much fun…"

Hope rolled her eyes. She felt a slight tug on her sleeve. She looked down to see a young girl standing next to her. She too had wings, and Hope could barely make out her dark hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, that's Glitch." Raven said. "She doesn't talk much."

"Um… is she your kid?" Hope asked nervously. _If death can't stop my parents from having more kids… what can?!_

"No." Raven laughed. "Even I am not that amazing. I don't know who's she is, but she showed up when she was a baby and stuck with me and Max. Maybe she's a long-lost cousin of mine." She frowned. "That's weird. I wonder why you can see her…"

"I can see you too." Hope said. As they spoke her mother was becoming clearer and clearer.

"What?!" Raven looked down at her hands. "Damn. Something's going on." She looked around. "Something big."

"Viktor's been really secretive lately." Hope said. "Maybe it has to do with something he's working on…?"

"Maybe." Raven said, her voice doubtful. She turned to her daughter, picking Glitch up. "You need to rescue your sister."

"What?! No! That would be complete treason! I'm not _that_ stupid! He'd kill me!"

"He's already shown that he doesn't care about you, and this might be beyond either of you." Raven said. "We need help."

"And what has Natalie got that I haven't?" Hope demanded.

"Experience. You spent too much time dead, Hope." Raven sighed. "You missed the entire Overlord Problem."

"But this has nothing to do with Overlord!" Hope snapped. "And it's _Natalie's _fault I spent all that time dead."

"Okay, maybe it's not _him_ but something similar is going on." Raven crossed her arms. "And I don't like it. Which means _you _have to get a move on!"

Hope sighed. "Fine, fine…"


	24. Chapter 23

Alia rubbed her head. _Great. Now I'm hallucinating. Lovely._

"Hey, you done yet?" Tobias demanded.

"Just a sec!"

It was amazing what soda and a bag of chips could do for a person. She exited the store feeling much better… and surrounded by total chaos. Bullets whizzed around her. There was no way she could get across the street safely. She closed her eyes and let her world be reduced to numbers.

Tobias stared at her in amazement as she reached him. He and Evan were standing on the loading ramp despite the danger. "How did you do that?!"

"It's nothing." Alia said.

"Obviously not that." Tobias snapped.

"Look, we can talk later, now we've got to get out of here." Alia said.

"But where do we go?"

"Surely there's a G.L.O.V.E. hidey hole somewhere in this place we can escape to?" she asked dryly.

"It might not be very safe." Evan warned.

"At the moment, I think a little safe is better then what's going on now." Tobias said. "Lead on."

###

Sparrow slipped outside, her footsteps padding silently. Her brother was a genius, her sister could kill someone in a second, but she was able to be invisible and that was good enough for her.

She found Diana Malpense outside of the fence, her mother wriggling her way out under it. Diana shrieked and curled into a ball when Sparrow appeared.

"It's okay." She said, picking the child up. "I'm going to help you."

Natalie pulled herself free. "Okay, Poppy, you next." she said, kneeling down.

Laura appeared. Sparrow frowned. "Don't you normally live in the main house?"

"Viktor's gone." Laura was holding Gracie's hand very tightly. "I guess he didn't trust the guards to keep me locked up."

"I'm sorry." Sparrow muttered.

"Sorry about what?" Natalie pulled Poppy up. "Move fast, Timothy." She ordered.

"I'm the one who's been… killing your children." Sparrow mumbled.

"What?!" Otto spluttered, coming from the house and slipping a protective arm around Laura.

"He ordered me to." Sparrow whispered. "I guess he didn't want a bunch of his kids going around causing trouble." She looked down at her feet. "Sorry."

Laura smiled shakily. "It's okay."

"You lot, hurry up." Natalie said. "I want to get out of here fast- after we blow this place up."


	25. Chapter 24

"Blow it up?" Otto repeated.

"Yes." Natalie shuddered. "If we are where I think we are, then this is an awful horrible place that needs to be destroyed."

"It's true." Sparrow said, letting the phrase slip from her without really thinking about it.

"Well, then." Otto got down on his belly and started forward. "We'd better get going."

###

Alia felt sick again as they landed for the second time. This time, they went straight into the safe house and there was no trouble, if it was a bit cramped. Alia noticed that some of the other adults-there were about five of them, mostly guards- looked confused, as if they'd never known that the place was there. It must have been one of Natalie's mum's secret ones. Well, it certainly wasn't going to be secret any longer. She noticed that two of the weapons were gone from the walls- a sword and a knife.

Alia felt a peculiar sensation fill her. She shook her head to clear it as Evan approached her.

"Are you all right? You're very pale."

"Oh, it's nothing." Alia said. "I'm just… confused."

"Confused?"

"Yes. I'm not sure what happened and I'm not sure what's going to happen now." Alia yawned. "And I'm tired again."

"You've pretty much spent this entire trip sleeping." Evan pointed out.

"Yes, well." Alia shrugged. "Some things just don't make sense."

"That thing with the bullets, have you always been able to do that?" Tobias said, sitting down on the floor next to them.

"Yes." Alia said. "Can't you?"

"No." Tobias said. "I can't do anything like that."

"You can do impossibly long division problems in your head, though." Alia said. "I'd trade you for that in a second."

"Why?"

"Math homework."

"Alia, you don't even do the math homework. You blackmail me into hacking into the computer system and stealing the answer key."

"That has math in it, doesn't it?"

Tobias sighed.

"Well." said Evan.

Alia jumped to her feet and ran off, her hand clamped over her mouth.

Tobias turned to glare at Evan. "If she-"

"Yeah, I know." Evan said, rolling his eyes. "You'll kill me."


	26. Chapter 25

Glitch's outline led Hope towards where Otto, Laura, Natalie, Diana, Sparrow, Gracie and Poppy were standing at the edge of the fence. Sepia, and Alex holding Matthias and Claire were gathered on the other side.

"Are you positive about this?" Natalie was saying.

"I am." Alex said. "Try not to blow _us_ up, all right?"

Natalie smiled, and blew him a kiss. "I'll come back for you, Alex."

Hope started clapping. "Man, you guys are so pathetic it's hilarious. If you blow this place up, he'll starve to death even if he isn't killed by the initial blast or the shrapnel- or he'll catch whatever Sepia's got and kick the bucket that way!"

Natalie grabbed Hope by the collar and slammed her into the fence. "_Please_ tell me what the _!*()_ you meant by coming back here to talk to me, you little () $#."

"You're a lot like mum, you know. You don't think, you only hurt people and you ruin everything you touch. Perfect for the leader of a school for villains." Hope said with a sneer.

"And you're any different?" Sparrow said coldly. "You ordered your own daughter executed."

"You have kids?" Natalie sighed. "Heaven help us."

###

"I think…" Ethan gulped. "You're going to have to."

Tobias stood up. "Great. This all just _great_." He started after Alia. _"AAAARRRRGGG!"_

Alia was in the safe house's tiny bathroom, puking her guts out.

"We need to come up with a plan." Tobias said.

"A plan?"

"For telling Mum and Dad." Tobias said, sighing.

"Telling them what?" Alia said.

Tobias swept the hair up off her face. "We have to accept that there's a high probability that you're knocked up. Every time Dad went… crazy he always seemed to end up with a new kid. I think something about losing control makes it more likely to happen. Anyway, we have to figure what we're supposed to say to Mum and Dad."

"Well, Mum'll just be super excited about more babies in the family." Alia muttered. "And Dad will flip out but then he'll accept it. It's simple, really. But unnecessary because _there is no baby._"

"It's stupid to spend all your time living in a dream world." Tobias said, rolling his eyes.

"And it's stupid to spend all your time playing fantasy video games with bikini-wearing elf maidens." Alia snapped. "Go lecture someone else, Tobias."

Tobias sighed. "Bikini-wearing elf maidens?"

"Well, some of them are in bikinis, some of them are-"

"I give up." Tobias muttered.


	27. Chapter 26

Hope sighed. "No, I _had _a daughter. She died. I ordered her killed because I had no use for her."

"Lovely. Not only is my sister a traitor, she's also a psychopath who thinks the answer to everything is to kill stuff." Natalie rolled her eyes.

"Wouldn't you love to kill your kids once in a while?"

"Well, not Saffron or Raven because thanks to you I barely got to know them." Natalie hissed.

"I'm trying to help you _escape_." Hope hissed, poking Natalie in the collar bone. Natalie gasped, almost falling over. Otto caught her. "Be careful! She's got a weak heart, you know."

Hope laughed.

"No, I'm serious. It's stopped a couple of times. And she gets really weak and dizzy sometimes-"

"Okay, that's enough about my health." Natalie said. "Let's _go_, for crying out loud.

###

Alia sat down on the bed. "Mmm… soft." She happily flopped backwards. "Did I run into a wall or something? Cause I hurt all over."

"You're okay?" Evan said, sitting down and rubbing her shoulders.

"I have the feeling I'm going to be completely black and blue in the morning." Alia grunted, rolling over.

"Well, in the morning you're going to be going to school." Tobias said. "So you should probably sleep. By yourself."

"Geez, who needs parents when I've got you?" Alia rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll sleep."

She slipped between the silky sheets, pulling off her jumpsuit and tossing it into the corner as she did so. Evan stared at her hard for a second as she rolled over and tugged the pillow closer to herself. He lay down next to her on top of the covers.

Tobias gave them a long hard look before leaving the room and entering his own. Before he went to bed, he went through the papers Cross had given him one more time.

Some guy who had angered G.L.O.V.E. was coming to speak at a school, and they wanted Tobias and his sister to go undercover there, find out as much as possible and then kill him. It seemed easy enough, but if Alia was knocked up… well, that would be a whole new set of problems he didn't even want to think about, and hopefully would never have to.

Evan entered and climbed into the bed across from Tobias.

"Have you done this before?" Tobias asked.

"Done what?"

"Gone on an assassination mission." Tobias clarified.

"Well… sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I've done it in video games." Evan said.

Tobias laughed.

"Me too…"


	28. Chapter 27

**We went on a field trip to a museum with glass art, and part of it was called the Glasshouse. Which means… I ESACAPED THE GLASSHOUSE! Yay!**

The next morning, Alia's temperature was 105. Against his better judgment, Tobias left her home with Evan. The stupidity of this was revealed when he came home to find Alia and Evan tangled up together in the bathtub, his sister wearing a soaking wet robe with bubbles in her hair.

Tobias stared at them from the doorway to the bathroom for a few seconds, then walked away, shaking with anger. _What has to happen for her to understand that she can't just go around acting irresponsible and not have any consequences from it? What on earth is she going to do if she has a baby? She's only fifteen and we're in the middle of a mission. Evan's not much older than that, and he has nothing, not even a family. They won't be able to manage, and she'll get hurt…_

"Tobias?" Alia approached him hesitantly. She set her hand on his shoulder. "Is-"

"Get away from me, you (_)#*." Tobias snarled.

He hadn't meant to say it. It had just slipped out, and he didn't mean it. Alia stared at him, the smile slowly fading from her face, her cheeks going white.

"I-"

She turned swiftly on her heels and walked away from him. He could have tricked himself into thinking that she was okay if not for her shoulders shaking.

Tobias sat down on the bed, breathing slowly. _Great. Now what?_

###

Alex cringed as he heard the noise of the first explosion. He pulled Sepia closer to him. She didn't even seem to notice. _Dang, she's sick._ Laura had been like this once, years ago, and had only survived by the skin of her teeth. And Sepia showed all the signs of leaving him…

He closed his eyes. _But it doesn't matter now. _

###

"Tobias?" Alia whispered. She refused to look him in the eye.

"Yeah?" he said.

"We're going to the hospital." Alia rubbed her head.

"You're not that sick." Tobias said.

"No, they have a more powerful test. They should be able to tell now." Alia turned around. She didn't bother inviting him, Tobias noticed.

He spent the entire time staring out the window. A few hours later, his sister came back.

It was obvious what the result had been when Alia entered. Her face was ghostly pale and she was shaking like a leaf. Evan looked just as nervous but was clearly trying to lighten the situation.

"You're such an overachiever, aren't you?" he was saying. "I would have been fine with just one."


	29. Chapter 28

Tobias clenched his fist, grabbing a handful of sheet. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"They don't know. It could be two or three or even four. But she's definitely pregnant and there's definitely more than one baby."

Alia sat down next to her brother and lay her head in his lap. "You were right."

"No." Tobias said. "It's not your fault at all."

###

Natalie sighed as she stepped out of the helicopter. "It feels so good to be back." She said.

A woman approached her. She was a little older then Natalie, her curly black hair framing a pretty, dark-skinned face. Behind her were the triplets, Angelique Malpense, and a boy and a girl she didn't know.

"Natalie Nero?" The woman called.

"Hi." said Natalie. She'd opened her moth to say something more when her little brothers tackled her. When she'd finally detached them from her, she turned to Otto. "Take Hope to the brig. We can interrogate her later. If she gives you any trouble, she's very ticklish under her arms."

Otto laughed. "Okay. Come on, Hope." As they walked away, Angelique started after them. Natalie noticed that she was clutching a familiar file folder. That reminded her that she didn't have a minute to waste.

"Where's Laura?" she demanded.

"She said something about finally being able to wear pants again, and ran off." supplied Timothy.

"Bother." Natalie turned to Ivan. "Go find her, will you? There's something we have to work on right away." She turned to the woman. "Er… who are you?"

"My name is Miss Heath." said the woman stiffly.

"Oh, you're my replacement." Natalie said. "How hard was it, running this zoo?"

"Difficult." Miss Heath scanned their little group. "Where's the second one? Alex?"

"He's off doing stupidly heroic things again." Natalie said. "We can go rescue him in a bit… but for now-"

The boy took a step forward. Natalie knew him from _somewhere, _she was sure-

"Um, I'm Raven." He said.

Natalie froze.

_I didn't recognize my own son? _She looked up at the girl. _Then that's… Saffron? God, she's tall…_

"Um, I'm your mom." She said. "And I would _love_ to talk but I really have to go do something- I guess you can come with me…"

"I think I will." Raven said. She watched him carefully. He had Mark's eyes.

"She's our mum?" Saffron demanded.

"Yes." Raven said.

Saffron squealed like she'd just been given a basket of candy. She grabbed Natalie's arm and started pulling her forward. "I have to show you my room! And my collection of My Little Ponies! And-"

"Hold it right there." Snapped Poppy. "She's my mom, not yours!"

Natalie sighed.


	30. Chapter 29

Raven sighed and snuggled closer into Nero. "I wish we could have kids here, it's so boring without a couple of babies to liven things up."

"Natalya, if you aren't pregnant yet you never will be." he said. "And we're _dead,_ remember…"

"Yes, well." Raven yawned. "I wonder if Hope's figure it out yet…"

"I think we have bigger things to worry about." Nero said.

"I wonder if she'd turned out differently if I'd spent more time with her." Raven mused.

"Bad apples smell no matter how pretty of a plate you put them on." Nero said.

"Max, that doesn't even make sense." Raven said, laughing. She stood up and grabbed a muffin off the kitchen counter. Then she screamed as her left wing exploded in an arc of feathers and blood.

Nero jumped up. "Natalya?!"

Raven gritted her teeth. "Hello, _Father._"

Viktor smiled.

###

Alia looked up at the image on the screen of her parents. Laura and Otto both looked happy, although oddly Laura was wearing a ridiculously frilly and low-cut blouse and a pair of camouflage pants that were at least four sizes too big for her.

"Are you okay?" Otto asked. "You're very pale."

"Mum… Dad…" Alia folded her hand across her stomach. "I'm going to have a baby."

Otto's jaw dropped and he grabbed at the table for support. Laura squealed and clapped her hands together in delight.

"A baby!" Laura looked around in excited wonder. "Now I feel old…"

"What's really worrying is that you aren't." added Natalie's voice.

Otto leaned closer. "Get it stopped while you still can, Alia. It will ruin your entire life if you go through with it at your age. I don't want you to get hurt." He sighed. "Who's the father?"

"Evan." Alia whispered. "We weren't going out… I just lost control…"

Otto slammed his fist into the table. "_Darn _it." He gritted his teeth. "You have to stop it."

"Um… I don't really want to…" Alia mumbled.

"Alia! Do as I say!" Otto hissed.

"I seem to remember you vehemently opposing me ending my pregnancy with Alia and Tobias." Laura said. "PA system, anyone?"

"Best tackle by a pregnant nineteen year old I've ever seen!" called Colonel Francisco from the other side of the room.

"I'll have to tell you the story." said Laura, leaning closer.

"Gaaah." Otto stood up. "As neither of you are listening to me and this story ends with me covered in green foam and stuck in a locker in the girl's locker room, I'm going to leave now…"


	31. Chapter 30

Her wings were wrapped around her like a thick bloody blanket as she opened her eyes. She tried to roll over but was prevented from doing so by the thick restraints around her body. She pulled them away from herself and saw that she was strapped to a cement wall, her feet dangling a few inches above the floor. Nero was on the floor, crying out as Viktor kicked him again and again.

"What are you doing to him?!" Raven yelled. "I'm the bad one- he just follows me!"

Viktor smiled at her. "Finally, you're awake."

"Are you dead?" Raven said bluntly.

"No, unlike you." Viktor started to laugh hysterically. Both Raven and Nero gave him a strange look.

"That's not… really that funny…" Raven said. "And why are you hurting him?!"

"He got in my way." Viktor said coldly.

"Yes, he does do that." said Raven.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew what he tried to do to you." Nero hissed. He sat up, wiping blood off his cheek. "She's your own daughter!"

"Honestly, I don't really care." Viktor said quietly. "I didn't raise her, I have no connection to her except by blood."

"And that doesn't matter?" Raven whispered.

"Not if it interferes with my plans for you." Viktor said.

"Where are..."

"I'm going to bring Aliya back." Viktor snarled.

###

Natalie looked around at the people gathered around the table. Otto and Laura, who looked like they were going to run off on their honeymoon any second. Shelby, who was playing with an origami fortune teller, Angelique who looked confused and the triplets who were making a statue of Otto out of duct tape. Only Timothy and Miss Heath looked like they were listening to her at all.

She sighed. "Just turn it on." She snapped to the technician behind her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Natalie said. "Hopefully that'll make them all shut up and pay attention."

"I was paying attention!" Otto snapped. "You were talking about… going on a vacation, right? To Hawaii?"

Natalie gritted her teeth. "Turn. It. On."

He pressed power, and the giant screen behind Natalie flickered to life.

Otto gasped.

"_Now _are you listening?" Natalie said spitefully.

"Yeah." Otto said. "Yeah…"


	32. Epilogue

**Yes, this story follows the same format as Under Fire- 30 chapters to a part, 4 parts to a story. **

_Epilogue_

_Raven clung desperately to the bed post as her father yanked at her. The frantic tug-of-war lasted several seconds before her fingers slipped and he pushed her down into the white sheets._

"_Please no." Raven begged. Viktor stared into her eyes, the invisible scars from her treatment at the hands of Furan and Overlord obvious. "I'm your own daughter-"_

"_I'm not interested in you in that way." Viktor snapped. _

_Raven sighed with relief, then became frightened again as he drew a knife. He forced her onto her back, then began to saw at the flesh connecting her injured wing to her body. _

_Raven screamed in complete and utter terror, thrashing frantically, but he held her still. He set down the knife and ripped the wing off. _

_She started sobbing then, clinging to the sheets that were stained red with her blood. Viktor gently brushed the hair off her face, then started on the second wing. _

"_I can't fly with just one." Raven whispered. "Please-"_

"_They'll grow back." Viktor said. "It'll be easier if they're both developing at the same time."_

_She did not scream as he tore off the second wing, just cried harder. Viktor forced her into his lap. "Stop crying." He said forcefully._

_Raven's wails slowed to hiccups. _

"_Thank you." Viktor sighed. "I need you to pretend to be a human for a while, and you can't do that with those things."_

"_Human?" Raven whispered. She wiped her nose on her sleeve. _

"_If you follow my orders I will bring you and your precious headmaster back to life." Viktor said. "You can have as many children as you want."_

"_What do you want me to do?"_

"_Get close to Tobias Malpense so you can kill Alia Malpense." Viktor said. "And any children she might have had by then." He leaned closer. "Will you do it?"_

"_Yes. Maybe. I don't know." Raven shivered. "You're a terrible father, you know."_

"_I'm not really your father, Natalya." Viktor snapped. _

"_Really?" Raven whispered. _

"_Yes." said Viktor. _

"_But the report-"_

"_There are only two people who know who your father is, and you're looking at one of them." Viktor said. _

"_Who else knows? My father?"_

"_I doubt it." Viktor smiled. "If he knew, he wouldn't have gone and had seven children with you, would he?"_


	33. Part Two: Chapter One

Laura rubbed her forehead, scanning the street. _Stupid Shelby. Where's she gotten to?_

Gracie tugged on her arm. "Mum, I think I see her."

_Where?_ Laura signed.

"Across the street." said Gracie, pointing.

Laura glanced over and saw someone who certainly looked like Shelby, from the back at least. She called out her friend's name but there was no response. Sighing, Laura took Gracie's hand and started across the cross-walk.

Neither of them saw the out-of-control semi headed straight for them.

###

Alia was curled into a ball as usual when Tobias got back. He sat down by her head and massaged her shoulders. "Does it hurt a lot?"

"My whole body aches…" Alia took his hand. "I want to die, Toby…"

"Don't say that." Otto said, entering the room. "You're the one who got knocked up, you're the one who has to deal with it."

"It would be way too cruel to make her give birth to quadruplets at age sixteen." Tobias snapped.

"You should have killed them when you still could." Otto said coldly.

Alia made a soft sobbing noise and buried her head in her pillow.

"Where's Evan?" Otto said, glaring at his two oldest children.

"I have no idea! Leave me alone, you're so mean to me all the time now! Can't you see I don't want this anymore then you do!" Alia started to cry.

Tobias pulled her closer to him. "Hey, are you okay?" he whispered.

"No!" Alia bellowed, slapping his hand away from her shoulder. "Leave me alone!"

Hurt, Tobias drew back. He stood up and started to put on his shoes. Then he heard Otto cry out.

"I'm going to go see what's going on." He said. Alia just grunted.

He went into the living room to see Otto talking on the phone with someone. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Laura- she's in the hospital-" Otto fumbled with the phone and finally threw it down on the couch in frustration.

"What happened? Was it the baby!?" Tobias asked.

"She was hit by a semi-truck." Otto said, halfway out the door. "She's in surgery right now. They don't think she'll… she'll…" Otto gritted his teeth. "Look, do you want to come?"

"Yes!" said Tobias. "If she's dying-"

"She's NOT dying!" Otto yelled, grabbing Tobias's shoulder. "She'll be fine." He looked into Tobias's eyes. "Right?" he whispered.


	34. Part Two: Chapter Two

Tobias was almost to his mother's hospital room when he crashed into a girl who was just standing there awkwardly. She had close-cropped dark hair and could nearly pass as a boy with her figure, but her features where too delicate for Tobias to be fooled.

"Oops. Sorry." she said. Her eyes were cold and blue, and she seemed a little jumpy, her eyes constantly darting from side to side.

"No, it's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going." Tobias said, feeling his heart started to pound a little faster.

She smiled, then opened her mouth to say something.

Otto yelled. "TOBIAS!"

"Sorry, have to go." Tobias spluttered. "What's your name?"

"Na- Nathaniel." the girl spluttered.

Tobias flushed. _So she really was a he after all. Oops. _

###

Laura lay on her back, hooked up to at least a dozen machines. Her eyes were closed and her breathing and heart rate were weak and erratic. Otto enfolded her pale hand in his. "Laura. Can you hear me?" he called.

Tobias sat down on the edge of her mother's bed. "Gracie's okay. Just a few broken bones. She'll get out of the hospital soon." He bit his lip. "And since she doesn't have much of a chance of surviving… they gave her surgery and took the baby out. She's healthy, too, if a little small…"

"Good." Otto said distractedly. He leaned down closer to his wife.

"I'm sorry." Shelby said from across the room. "I was stuck in traffic- I couldn't get there in time- this is at least partially my fault-"

"Shush!" Otto yelled. He stroked Laura's cheek. "Love? Did you say something?"

Laura opened her eyes and reached out gently with her other hand. Otto kissed her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Ot…to…" Laura mumbled.

Otto squeezed her hand. "You're going to be just fine, okay? Don't worry…"

"Otto…" She squeezed back, though very faintly. "Otto…"

"Shh." Otto said gently. "Don't try any talk. Just rest, okay? You're going to be just fine."

Laura smiled, then closed her eyes. Her hand went limp.

"Laura!" Otto shook her roughly. "Laura?!"

She didn't stir.

Otto leaned down and buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing.


	35. Part Two: Chapter Three

Alia rolled over. She wondered where her brother and father had gone. _Rushing off and leaving me all alone isn't very nice… especially when I'm defenseless like this. Something big must be going on-_

She froze as she heard footsteps coming from the entryway. _Uh-oh._

Thankfully, it was only Evan.

He climbed into bed next to her and slid his arms around her. "How're you doing?"

"Fine." Alia said. "You surprised me, though. Why can't you say that you're here like a normal person?"

"You're grouchy." Evan rubbed her stomach. "You look exhausted."

"I can't sleep. I'm too hot. And tired. And stuff." Alia said. "I can't wait three days. I want these babies out now."

"Sorry, you've got to wait." Evan said.

"Something happened and Dad and Tobias rushed off. Do you know what happened?"

"No, I have no idea." Evan shrugged. "Maybe Laura was sick or something."

"Ah, well." Alia sighed. "If it was something major, they would have told me…"

###

Someone was holding Laura carefully, and she could smell wet grass and pastries. When she opened her eyes she found that it was Nero who was holding her. Next to him was a woman with dark blond hair and clear blue eyes.

"Hey." said Nero. "You feeling all right? Natalya was really sick for a while when she first got here."

"Where am I?" Laura mumbled. She felt groggy, like she'd just woken up from an extensive nap. It was hard to move.

"Want a cupcake?" the woman asked, holding out one with purple frosting.

"Sure." Laura said. She bit into it. It was delicious. She looked around. They were in some sort of park, sitting on the bench. "Where are we? I was waiting for Shelby… and there was something across the street…"

"Do you remember anything afterwards?" Nero said.

She shook her head.

"Then you were probably hit by a car." Nero said gently.

"Hit by a- so this is a dream?"

The woman laughed. "Everyone denies it at first, don't they, Max?"

Nero looked a little irritated, but the woman smiled and held up the cupcake. "Open up…"

Nero grudgingly opened his mouth and the woman popped the cupcake in. Nero swallowed. "Aliya, would you knock it off? You know I'm Natalya's."

Aliya rolled her eyes. "You know I could give you a good time if you'd just let me…"

"Denies _what?_" Laura demanded. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Laura." Nero looked into her eyes. "You're dead."


	36. Part Two: Chapter Four

Natalie yawned as she rubbed shampoo into her dark hair. She'd been up all night with Timothy, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but she was exhausted now. And falling asleep in the shower would probably result in her getting a concussion-

"Natalie?" called a voice. A boy's voice. And not Timothy's

"Um." snarled Natalie. "I'm sort of _in the shower._"

"Sorry." Said the voice." Natalie finally recognized it as one of the triplets. She stuck her head out from behind the shower curtain.

"What now?" she hissed.

"Laura. She was hit by a car and killed." said the triplet, who she thought was probably Ivan.

"An accident?" Natalie demanded, grabbing her towel and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"No, it was probably planned." Ivan said. "The driver was a girl Alia's age."

"Probably one of Viktor's minions." Natalie stood up.

"Um… are you okay?" Ivan said.

"No." snapped Natalie, flouncing out of the bathroom. "When people kill me friends, it makes me _really _mad."

"Ah."" Ivan frowned. "You should probably change first before you go talk to the others-"

"I'll put on a bathrobe or something!" Natalie called.

###

Laura burst into tears. Nero grabbed her and pulled her closer into him. He stroked her hair as he sobbed into her shoulder. She reminded him a little bit of a cat, soft and warm, easily upset.

"I think you should lie down." He said. The scene swirled, and they reappeared in a bedroom that looked like Nero's back at H.I.V.E. He tucked Laura into the big bed, and she rolled onto her side and stared blankly that the wall.

"I can go and find Guinevere and James, if you'd like." Nero said.

Laura nodded.

Nero turned on the TV on the wall in front of her bed. "Here." He said. "Just say who you'd like to see and it'll show it to you."

Laura turned towards it. "Otto Malpense." she whispered.

Nero frowned as he went out the door. _If Laura's dead, then that means Otto's single and that means Natalie and Hope'll be trying to get him… glad I'm not there. This could turn into a big mess. _

"Actually-" Laura called. "Can you stay here for a while?"

Nero shrugged. He went back over and sat down on her bed. She was watching Otto crying over her body, and looked like she was about to cry as well.

"Can't I talk to him? Tell him I'm okay?" Laura whispered.

"I'm sorry, you can only watch." Nero said softly.

Laura started wailing again. Nero put an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, it'll be okay. I'm sure we can find some way for you to send a message to him… but whether he understands it or not depends on him."

"Okay." Laura mumbled.


	37. Part Two: Chapter Five

Raven had been skittish when he'd first met her, afraid to trust anyone. He guessed that she'd never had anyone to trust and depend on when she was younger, so she wasn't quite sure what to do with him. Eventually he'd gained her trust and later her love.

They'd only been together for a few months when Raven became pregnant. Even though they'd planned to have children later, it still threatened to destroy their relationship for obvious reasons. But they, they'd figured it out and had Natalie, and then Alex and Annicka. The few years with Raven between Natalie and Hope had been the best of his life.

Laura buried her head in his shoulder. It made him a little uncomfortable to have her so close, but he felt like it was his job to comfort her. He was, after all the only one here… besides, he didn't have anyone else to be with…

He could still see the note from Natalya in his head. He had memorized it.

_Dear Max. I love you but it's wrong for us to be together. I'm sorry. Don't try and find me. It's better if we don't see each other again. _

He closed his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Laura said quietly.

"What? Yes. Fine." He smiled. "You want something to eat?"

"No, I'm okay." Laura said. "I could use some sleep, though."

"Then I'll leave you alone." Nero stood up. "Call me if you want anything."

###

Raven was unsure of what to do now. 'Befriend Tobias Malpense and kill his sister and her children' was such a vague instruction. Besides, she'd never been much good at befriending anyone…

She rubbed her back. It hurt to have her chest and wings bound like this but it was the only way for her to pass as a normal boy. Why she had to be a boy in the first place was beyond her. It was always easier to get males to talk to her as a girl-

Oh! He was coming back out. He noticed her almost immediately. "Why are you here?"

"Oh… um, I'm here with my dad. He's… getting a cast off his arm and I've got nothing to do…" She yawned.

"Um." He said, blushing. "Are you a girl or a boy?"

"A b- girl." Raven said.

"Then why is your name Nathaniel?" Tobias demanded.

"Um…" Raven said. "My dad is… weird?"

"Ah." Tobias shrugged. "Um…"

"What?" Raven asked.

"Do you want to… go out for lunch?" he asked.

"Oh- sure." Raven said.

_This is easier then I thought…_


	38. Part Two: Chapter Six

The room was empty, which was odd. Normally the control room was filled with security officers and other random people who liked to pop in and act like they were doing something. Natalie looked around and spotted Professor Pike… pointing a ray gun at a cage made of duct tape full of… squirrels?

"What is going on?" she demanded.

"Well… I may have accidently turned everyone who was here into butterflies."

Natalie eyed the cage of squirrels.

"And then I was trying to turn them back into humans, but then… well, now they're squirrels." The professor laughed uncomfortably. "Isn't that funny?"

"Hilarious." said Natalie dryly. "Now _turn them back!_"

"I'm working on it." Professor Pike said. "Here, I'll go get my squirrel translator so you can understand them."

_It's sort of obvious what they're saying._ Natalie thought, watching the squirrels chitter angrily at Professor Pike.

###

Nathaniel- or whatever her name really was, seeing as her story didn't make sense, seemed anxious and nervous. She kept darting glances over her shoulder.

"So… do you have a nickname or something?" Tobias asked.

"Oh, yes, Shadow." she said. "Cause, you know. I'm quiet and I can sneak around easily…"

"Really." He took a bite of the cookie in front of him. They were in a café a few buildings down from the hospital. "How old are you?"

"Um… fifteen." She suddenly stood up. "Come on. We have to go."

"Go where? Why so suddenly?" Tobias asked.

"Come on, we have to get out of here _now_!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the building. They were just a few feet away when it exploded.

"Geez." Tobias whispered. Shadow's back was to him, and he noticed two strange nubs of bone between her shoulder blades. She seemed to sense him staring at her and turned.

"We should go back to the hospital. I have… things to do." She grabbed his hand again and this time a chill went down his spine. He grabbed her around the waist and yanked her into him, unable to control what he was doing. _What's going on?_

He remembered what Alia had told him about what had happened with her and Evan. So he had these episodes too. But how could he re-take control over his own body? He tried to concentrate but it was too hard with Shadow pressed into him.

She turned around and stared at him with her cold blue eyes. He felt strange for a moment, and then he let go of her.

She looked at him with complete and utter terror. "What… just happened?"

"I don't know." He squeezed her hand. "You're right- let's go back to the hospital."


	39. Part Two: Chapter Seven

Otto sat in a heap on Laura's bed. How could she be dead? She had been fine when he had talked to her over the phone this morning…

His phone rang. He picked it up but said nothing.

"I understand you've lost someone." said Viktor's voice.

"I don't want to talk to you." Otto hissed.

"Go back to your friend Shelby's house before noon. Bring her body. I can bring her back for you."

Otto stared down at Laura's still face as the connection was broken. Viktor was a scientist, wasn't he? So… in theory…

He picked Laura up like a doll and left the room.

###

Alia stood up.

"Where are you going?" Evan asked.

"Nowhere, apparently." Alia crossed her arms. "I just thought I'd go for a walk."

"Normally it takes at least ten minutes of pleading to get you to go into the kitchen to get breakfast."

"What's the point of a boyfriend if he doesn't bring you breakfast?" Alia complained.

"You're mean." Evan said.

"Oh my, a lover's quarrel."

Alia turned to see Hallie standing in the doorway. She looked ill, with deep circles under her eyes and her wrists heavily bandaged. The smirk on her face looked forced. Behind her were the two girls who had attacked her and Evan before, Bonnie and Claudette.

"What's up?" mumbled Alia.

"I'm here to kidnap you." Hallie snapped. "Don't talk like that to me."

"I'm older then you." Alia snapped. "Don't talk like _that_ to me!"

"Obviously not wiser." Hallie said with a glance at her swollen belly.

"Oh, be quiet." Evan said, pulling Alia into him. "And I'm not going to let you touch her. She's in too delicate a condition for that."

"Don't worry, I don't intend to hurt her until after she gives birth." Hallie said. "We just want to take her to a… safe place."

"Sure you do." Evan said. "You're not getting your hands on her and that's that."

Hallie sighed. "I really don't want to kill you- you're kind of hot. But if I have to, I will. Now get away from her."

"Stay away from her."

They all turned towards the window. Alia frowned.

"But- you said you were going to see Shelby, mum!"

Laura smiled frozenly, then her knees buckled and she passed out.


	40. Part Two: Chapter Eight

Laura woke up not knowing where she was. She was in a grand bed with someone… she rolled over and found it was Nero, lying on his side as far away from her as physically possible. She realized with a start he wasn't breathing. She grabbed him and straddled him with her legs, pushing down on his chest and blowing air into his lungs.

Nero sat up. "Brand?! What are you doing?"

"You're alive!" Laura spluttered.

"No, I'm dead. We both are, remember?" Nero pushed her off of him. "Are you all right?"

Laura cradled her head in her hands. "I'd forgotten-"

She screamed as pain shot through her body. Nero grabbed her arm. "Laura? Laura?!"

"It hurts!" Laura wailed.

"You're fading." Nero said, looking unsure of what to do. "Brand-"

She screamed again, then blacked out.

###

Natalie reached down to answer her cell phone. "Hello? Otto?"

She didn't want to think the way she was… but all she could think about was that if Laura was dead Otto was single…

"I need all the information on your thingy." Otto said.

"My thingy?"

"Yes. You know, making a computer that thinks like a human brain. Remember that?"

"What do you need it for?"

"None of your business."

"Fine." Natalie said. "Give me a second…"

###

It was a fair trade, information for Laura's life. But she was so frail now. She couldn't even stand. He caught her before she could fall and held her close. "Baby? You all right?"

"Get them… away from my daughter." Laura mumbled.

Otto remembered what Viktor had said. _It might be too much for her brain, coming back from the dead. _He winced. He didn't want to hurt Laura, but anything was better than never seeing her again.

"Come on, girls." Hallie said, grabbing the arms of the two behind her. "We'll be back."

Otto lay Laura down on the bed. "Love, do you want anything?"

Laura gasped and without words pointed to her leg. It was bleeding, at a strange angle and there was something white sticking out of the side-

_And of course, _Viktor had added. _She'll have very serious health problems after. It might be too much for her to even move for a while. You must be careful not to push her…._


	41. Part Two: Chapter Nine

"I don't feel so…" Alia suddenly slumped forward and hit the floor. Evan grabbed her. "She's not breathing!" he yelled.

"Are you sure?" Otto said. He gritted his teeth. _Too much going on at once!_

Laura rolled over onto her side. "I think… I'm just going to take a little nap…"

"No." Otto said. "I want you conscious. If you take a nap now you might never wake up."

"But I'm tired." Laura said. She sat up and rubbed her leg. "It hurts a lot, Otto."

"I know but our daughter could be dead, I sort of need to deal with that right now." Otto said. "Evan, go get me the first aid kit from the closet."

He went over to Alia and grabbed her wrist. She had no pulse. It was exactly what happened to Natalie every once in a while, except Alia's heart didn't seem to be restarting.

He pushed down on Alia's chest. She didn't stir. _I don't think there's any way of helping her._

"Otto… please…" Laura moaned.

Otto sighed and headed back over to his wife.

###

"What happened?!" Aliya demanded, bursting into Nero's rooms. "I felt something-"

"Laura… Laura was replaced by this girl." Nero said, shaking the shoulders of the girl with white hair who'd appeared. She looked like she was around fifteen- _Raven's age when I first met her-_ and looked extremely pregnant.

"Did… did she go back?" Aliya spluttered.

"I think so. And… so this must be her daughter. Probably Alia. Although I don't know for certain, she was a lot younger the last time I saw her…"

Alia's eyes opened.

"Hey." said Nero. "Do you know what happened?"

"No, I just passed out." Alia said softly. She sat up, then started screaming again.

"I don't think your fully dead yet." Nero said. "They must be trying to bring you back. It should stop in a minute."

Alia clung to him, causing Aliya to glare at her. Then she sighed and opened her eyes. She began bleeding from a long cut along her side.

"What's going on?" Aliya demanded.

"I think they must be trying to save the babies." Alia said. She looked up at Nero. "Am I… dead?"

"Yes." Nero said gently.

"Okay." Alia said slowly. "Okay…"


	42. Part Two: Chapter Ten

Viktor looked up, hearing footsteps. Sparrow was standing in the doorway.

"What you told Natalya." She said. "About Nero and Aliya being her parents… was it true?"

"For all I know, it could have been." Viktor said. "I think she has an affair with him."

"It could have been. You think. So you made it up to drive them apart."

"They're annoying how they always end up back together no matter what happens." Viktor yawned. "I figured blood relation was something they couldn't change or ignore. Besides, they have far too many children."

Sparrow took a couple of steps towards him. "I want to kill you." She said.

"You do?" Viktor said. "Well, then."

He flicked his wrist and she dropped, her throat slit.

"You were my last child… and I don't really want to kill you… but unfortunately you're too rebellious." Viktor sighed. "Sometimes I really wonder why I bothered making all of you special seeing as I just had to kill you off."

He stood up. "Hallie!"

There was no answer.

"Honestly." Viktor sighed, then stood up. "I suppose I'll go find you myself, then…"

###

Hallie was frozen in front of the glass tube. A girl was floating in the clear liquid inside… a girl much younger than her who looked identical to her but with blond hair.

"Who is this?" she whispered as Viktor came in.

"You died." Viktor said. "When you were a little thing. And your mom didn't want to lose you- you know how you were born after you mom died and all that- well, she… I'm not sure how but somehow she used that to bring you back. I recently… acquired your old body…"

"What are you going to use it for?" Hallie whispered.

"I don't know yet." Viktor said. "I'm sure it will be very interesting, though…"

###

"I can't believe Dad ran off." Gracie sighed. She turned to Shadow. "And who's she?"

_A friend. _Tobias signed.

"She's a pretty friend." Gracie said with a smirk.

Tobias turned to Shadow. "We've got a safe house around here… do you want to go back there?"

"Will she come too?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah… but we can be alone if you want to." Tobias said.

Shadow smiled.


	43. Part Two: Chapter Eleven

Otto sighed as he lifted the last baby from his daughter's cold body. "God. How did she end up having four?"

"OTTO MALPENSE!"

Otto turned around and saw a very angry Natalie. He looked her up and down. "What are you doing?"

"Do you have any idea what sort of position you've put me in!?" Natalie snarled. "The G.L.O.V.E. punishment for treason is death. I don't particularly want to kill you, but now what the heck am I supposed to do now?!" She stamped her foot. "And for goodness gracious, look at my face instead of-"

"Okay, okay!" Otto snapped.

"Is she distracting you?" Alex said snidely.

"Are you kidding me? Prancing about in that dress with the slit up to god knows where-" Otto blushed. "I mean… I'm concerned… about what other people might think…"

"Last time I checked it was called a bathrobe." Natalie snapped. "And- Alex!"

"Hey." said Alex, yawned. "What's going on here?" Behind him, Sepia smiled.

"Oh my god, Alex!" Natalie threw her arms around him. "Where have you been?! I was so worried-"

"It's a fascinating story." said Alex. "But we don't have time." He set the baby he was carrying on the bed. "This is Laura's, by the way. Father's probably Viktor, but I can't be sure. I figured she'd want him back." He looked down at Laura. "What the heck happened to her?!" he demanded.

"She was dead." Otto stood up and scooped Laura into his arms, who was crying quietly with her eyes closed. "And now she's back."

"Yeah, Viktor said something about that." Alex said. "Listen. I know what he's planning and it's pretty simple. Now that he has Natalie's technology-" he shot Otto a glare. "-he can bring people back from the dead. And reprogram then so they think how he wants to."

"Wait." Natalie said. "I can guess what's going to happen next. He 'reprograms' all of the world's leaders so he can control everything."

"Pretty much." Alex yawned. "Now, I suggest we go find some ships and some guns and kill him."

"You are such a boy." Natalie grunted.

###

Raven yawned as she lay curled on her side next to Tobias. It was strange to have someone other than Nero hold her but-

She heard Tobias grunt as he opened his eyes. She rolled over to face him. "So where do we go-"

She noticed his expression. "What, is something wrong? Are you okay?"

"Shadow… you've got wings." Tobias whispered.

Raven closed her eyes and wrapped the frail, feathery structures around Tobias. "Yep."

"They're soft." Tobias mumbled.

"Yes, soft and warm." Raven whispered. "Now why don't you go back to sleep?"

Tobias yawned, then buried his head in her chest and dozed off again.

Raven sighed. _Hopefully… he won't remember any of it._

She stood up. _I suppose I'm supposed to report back to Viktor now…_ She yawned and vanished.

From the cot across the room, Gracie watched the scene wide eyed.


	44. Part Two: Chapter Twelve

"Alia Malpense is dead."

Raven crossed her arms, trying to mold her features into the picture of indifference. "So… I can go back to Ma- back to where I was before?"

"I saw them together." Viktor said. He suddenly seemed… almost human. "Aliya and Nero. In our bedroom."

"That's wonderful. Why the heck should I care?" Raven snapped. She wanted to get away from Viktor-

"Mum!"

She turned to see Hallie. She looked like she was almost in tears and she was holding the frail form of a baby. "Why didn't you tell me about this?! What am I?!"

_I was so foolish, going on that mission. _

"You were under my control." Viktor's hand rested on her shoulder and slowly started creeping downward. "It was not your fault."

"_She's in a delicate condition." the doctor had said when Natalie and Alex had left. "She needs heart surgery."_

_She was still in a happy daze after her child's birth. "Sure." She handed Hallie over, with no idea that she would never see her again._

Raven didn't bother fighting off Viktor. It didn't matter anymore.

"I want you to continue to stay with Tobias." He said. "There isn't anything for you to do and I want you out of the way. But any babies produced I want."

"I'm in the body of a fifteen year-old girl." Raven snapped. "There aren't going to be any babies."

Viktor laughed. "You were fourteen when you became pregnant with Natalie. There will be babies."

Raven crossed her arms. _Come on. I'm not stupid-_

"When it comes to this sort of thing the record shows that you are nowhere near in control." Viktor snapped.

Raven blinked. "Are you _in my head_?!"

"Yes." said Viktor. "It's a necessary precaution, you're always causing trouble. I need to monitor your thoughts."

Raven opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, then turned around.

"Wait!" Hallie yelled. "What happened?!" She tugged on her mother's arm. "I want to know what I am!"

"You're my daughter, Hallie." Raven lied. "Does it really matter? It's what you chose to do that's important."

She looked at Hallie sadly, then vanished.

Tobias was waiting for her as she went through the door. "Did you get breakfast?"

"Sorry, no." She noticed Gracie staring at her. Staring at her back. She winced and turned away sharply. "I- I can go get some if-"

"Sure." said Tobias.

Gracie refused to take her eyes off her.

_What did she see?_


	45. Part Two: Chapter Thirteen

Otto plunked three of Alia's babies onto Laura's lap and held the fourth himself. "Are they okay, do you think?"

"Seem all right." Laura said, cuddling one of the babies to her cheek. "They're cute." She looked at Otto plaintively. "Can we keep them?"

"Well, I would hope so. They're your grandchildren." Angelique said, rolling her eyes. Three identical squirrels were balanced on her shoulder.

Poppy tugged on Natalie's sleeve. "Mommy, she's being mean!" She pointed to Saffron, who stood with her arms crossed.

"She's trying to steal you!" Saffron exclaimed.

"Mommy, there are squirrels everywhere!" Diana had somehow climbed onto Natalie's shoulders and was pulling on her hair. "WHEEE!"

"So there are." Natalie sighed.

"Who didn't you bring?" Alex demanded.

"Timothy." Natalie muttered, looking distant.

"He's probably cheating on you with Hope as we speak." Alex teased.

"Has anyone noticed that the ones who betray us all start with H?" Poppy said, poking Alex's leg. "You're tall." She added.

"Yes I am." Alex picked her up.

"I like him." Poppy declared, nuzzling against Alex's shirt.

"I love you too, doll." Alex looked at Natalie. "I found out some crazy things about Hallie when I was…"

"Rampaging through Viktor's base, causing trouble?" Natalie shook her head. "You could have sent us a message or something. We thought you were dead."

"Well, I was a little busy." Alex grumbled.

"I was busy too!" Poppy said. "I know ABCs now!"

"Lovely, you'll have to teach him sometime." Natalie yawned. "Anyway, we got rid of all your stuff."

"What?!" Alex spluttered.

"Yeah." Natalie said. "Sucks for you. You should have called."

Alex gritted his teeth and dove for her. Natalie blocked him and grabbed his arm, dragging him down to the floor. Otto kissed Laura's forehead as they wrestled. "You doing okay, baby?"

"Yeah." Laura was completely entranced by the babies in her lap. She looked up at him, holding one of the boys up. "I think I'm still good for a few more…"

"Excuse me?" said a man in a suit standing in the doorway.

Natalie stood up. "Who are you? How did you get here?!"

"Natalie." Alex hissed. "I think that's the Prime Minister of England."

Natalie rubbed her forehead. "_S*&t."_

**Sorry about the swearword but Natalie **_**is**_** Raven's daughter, after all. **


	46. Part Two: Chapter Fourteen

Timothy sat in front of the computer typing as Kade entered. He resembled his father in looks but his personality was very like Katarina's. **(Yes, Kade is Katarina and Alex's son who never had a reason to get named. I recently remembered that he existed and decided to bring him in.)** Timothy watched him in the reflection on the monitor as he opened a filing cabinet and went through the files.

"Looking for something?" Timothy asked.

"Oh, Professor Pike wanted some old data that might help him fix the squirrel problem." Kade said offhandedly.

BANG.

Hope strode into the room looking very pleased with herself. Timothy jumped up. "You're supposed to be in your room!"

"You mean my prison?" Hope hissed. She was carrying a knife and she grabbed Kade and held it to his throat. "Give me the access codes to the hangar."

"No." Timothy hissed.

"Fine." Hope tossed Kade to the floor. "I'll just have to force my way in."

She shut the door and looked it behind her, tossing something in. Timothy recognized it as a grenade immediately. He had just enough time to grab Kade and dive under the table before it exploded.

###

"Natalie Nero, isn't it?" the Prime Minister said. "Nice to meet you."

He held out his hand. She shook it hesitantly. "Strange, seeing as I'm…" She shook her head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. Alex!"

Alex jumped. "Yeah?"

"How'd you know who he was? You've been captured for over eight years."

"Oh, he was on Viktor's target list." Alex said distractedly. He was helping Otto take care of Laura who kept slipping from consciousness and then returning.

"Viktor. You mean Viktor Serov?" asked the Prime Minister.

"Yes, I think." said Angelique.

"In that case I can guess what this is about." Natalie said. "You want me to be your bodyguard."

"Well, yes…"

"Then you want that guy." Natalie jerked her finger at Alex. "He's the strongest one here…"

"Wait, hang on a minute!" Alex snapped. "Laura needs to recuperate and she obviously needs someone to help her take baths… and spoon feed her…"

"I'm the one who's married to her, quit getting carried away!" Otto snapped.

The squirrels that were really the triplets jumped onto Natalie's shoulders and started chittering loudly in her ears. Natalie swatted them off. "You'll do what I tell you to, Alex!"

"Well, you certainly are a lively bunch." muttered the Prime Minister.


	47. Part Two:Chapter Fifteen plus Characters

Alex Nero

Raven and Nero

33

Alia Malpense (deceased)

Laura and Otto

16

Angelique Malpense

Laura and Otto

14

Annicka Nero (deceased)

Raven and Nero

Died at 17

Ayedette Furan (deceased)

Ashe and Pietor

Died at age 1

Claire Nero (deceased)

Alex and Sepia

Died at age 4

Diana Nero

Natalie and Otto

3

Ella Nero (deceased)

Alex and Sepia

Died at age 6

Evan Serov

Thea and Unknown

17

Gracie Malpense

Laura and Otto

6

Guinevere Malpense (deceased)

Laura and Otto

Died at age 5

Hallie Nero

Raven and Nero

15

Hope Nero

Raven and Nero

31

James Malpense (deseased)

Laura and Alex

Died at 5 months

Joy Malpense

Laura and Otto

2 days

Kade London

Alex and Katerina

15

Mark Meroski (deceased)

Ashe and Corey

Died at age 26

Matthias Nero (deceased)

Alex and Sepia

Died at age 1

Natalie Nero

Raven and Overlord

35

Natalya 'Raven' Serov (deceased)

Aliya and Nero

Died at age 39

Nico Nero (deceased)

Natalie and Nero

Died at age 5

Poppy Nero

Natalie and Nero

6

Quadruplets

Alia and Evan

Newborns

Raven Nero

Natalie and Mark

11

Saffron Nero

Natalie and Otto

10

Shrader Furan (deceased)

Anastasia and Pietor

Died at age 21

Siri Nero (deceased)

Raven and Furan(?)

Died at 5

Sirius Serov (deceased)

Aliya and Viktor

Died at age 37

Thea 'Sparrow' Serov (deceased)

Aliya and Viktor

Died at age 46

Timothy Furan

Ashe and Pietor

34

Tobias Malpense

Laura and Otto

Died at age 16

Unnamed Malpense

Laura and Viktor

10 months

Viktor, Ivan and Max Nero

Raven and Nero

12

Wren Fanchu

Wing and Shelby

10

**Okay. The above is a list of everyone's kids and their parents and ages. I hope that helps you keep track of everyone. And just so you know, these are the characters as of this chapter. More things might be revealed that change the information…**

Gracie cornered Raven as she was pouring water for herself and Tobias. "Who are you?" she whispered.

Raven just shook her head.

"Are you a fairy?"

She shook her head again.

"An angel?"

Raven shrugged.

"Are you good?"

Raven nodded.

"What were you and Toby doing last night?" Gracie asked, leaning forward conspiratorially.

Raven blushed.

"What are you two chatting about?" Tobias said.

Raven handed him the water. "Here."

"We need to go pick up my sibling-" He stopped, rubbed his forehead, muttered something about how annoying his parents were. "- and then we have to go back to H.I.V.E."

_I can't go back! They'd recognize me! _Raven squeezed her plastic cup so hard the water sloshed out over the edge and splattered on her shoes.

"Shadow…" Tobias pulled her close. "Don't worry. You're a born trouble maker. They'll love you."

Raven winced slightly but didn't say something. She touched her pocket where the pills Viktor had given her were resting. _If you take one of these you will almost certainly have a child. _

_She sat with her head in her hands. Nero slid his arm around her, holding Hallie in his arms. _

"_I don't want to do this." Raven whispered. _

"_I know but it's the only way she'll be able to live." Nero said, squeezing her waist. _

"_Can't we just have another baby?" Raven clenched her fists, her fingernails cutting into her palms. "Can't we just let her die?!" _

"_No!" Nero yelled. He clutched Hallie even closer to him as though she might steal the little baby and snap her neck herself._

"_I'm not willing to do this!" Raven bellowed. _

"_She'll never know, she'll be just like a normal child. We'll raise her like the others." Nero said. "It'll be just fine."_

"_But… but…" Raven looked up. "But I'll always…"_

"_You've felt guilty because of things before." Nero said. "Besides, isn't it better than to have a living daughter then a dead one?" _

"_But she's NOT ALIVE!" Raven screamed. "She's a freaking ROBOT!"_


	48. Part Two: Chapter Sixteen

Hallie stared at the spot her mother disappeared into. She took a step backwards and cried out as something sharp cut her foot.

"Are you all right?"

She looked at it. "I think so…" It was a deep cut. She saw the glint of metal inside and pulled on it, trying to pull it out. But she couldn't.

"Viktor?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you take a look at my foot?" She propped it up on a chair and he bent down to touch it.

"Either you've got something implanted in you or-" Viktor grabbed her hand and suddenly brought a knife down clean through her little finger. Hallie screamed and jerked away.

"Just as I thought." Viktor said, smiling.

###

"Yeah, look, can you go stand out in the hall for a bit?" Natalie said. "I have some business to take care of."

"Sure." He said. As he left, Natalie pointed a ray gun at Otto and fired.

There was a flash of light and Otto was gone.

"What did you do to him?!" Laura screamed.

"I turned him into a butterfly." Natalie said.

"WHAT?!" bellowed everyone in the room.

A butterfly fluttered out of Otto's clothes and landed on Natalie's head. "What did you do that for?!" Otto's voice spluttered.

"To punish you for betraying us!" Natalie snapped.

"Change me back!" Otto yelled.

"Change him back, _please_!" Laura begged. She had gone very pale and looked as though she might pass out at any second.

The door opened and Tobias entered carrying a baby with Gracie close behind. He glanced at the scene, then said. "Is that the Prime Minister of England?"

"Yes." said Natalie.

"And is that my sister's body on the floor?"

"Yes." Natalie sighed. "We really need to get back to H.I.V.E. and dispose of it… among other things-"

"CAN YOU JUST TURN MY HUSBAND BACK INTO A MAN FIRST?!" Laura bellowed. She gasped, winded, after making the statement.

"Fine…" Natalie said. "And just so you know I have no idea if this is going to work…"

She fired the ray gun again and there was another flash. When it was gone Otto was standing there. But something was different…

"Er." said Otto, his voice slightly higher than usual. "What just happened?"

"Otto?" Natalie said. "I-"

"YOU'RE A GIRL!?" Laura screamed.


	49. Part Two: Chapter Seventeen

Raven's stomach was tied up in knots as she stood outside of the safehouse. She wanted to go in and see her children again but then they would recognize her and that would not end well.

She would have to leave, at least for a while. It just wouldn't work. She took the pills from her pocket. It would be nice to have a baby, to keep her company when she wasn't able to be with Tobias. She looked at the bottle, but there were no instructions, so she grabbed six and gulped them down.

Instantly a splitting pain exploded across her abdomen. She fell to her knees, grabbing at the wall. _Gah. That was really stupid._

Tobias came out of the room holding a baby in each arm. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." she grunted. "Fine."

"You don't look fine." Tobias said.

"Just a stomachache." She smiled winningly. "I think I have to leave now, Tobias. But I'll come visit."

He slid his arm around her and rubbed her neck. "Why? I'd like you to stay-"

"It's too dangerous." She sighed and pulled him down onto her. "At least give me a decent goodbye."

###

Otto looked down at himself. "I- I'm not a girl… I-"

"Has he _always _been a girl?!" Laura yelled.

"Obviously not." Angelique said, pointing to herself.

"What-"

"It must be a problem with the ray gun. I warned you that it was a prototype." Natalie shrugged. "Now come on. Let's go, Odette."

"_Odette?!_"

"It's got _some_ of the right letters, I suppose…" Alex said.

###

Alia was doing better, sitting up and eating oatmeal. Nero watched her carefully.

"You know what happens when you die here?" Aliya asked in his ear, her blond hair tickling his cheek.

"What?" Nero said with a sigh.

"Every memory of you is erased from the world of the living." Aliya whispered. "And actions that people took because of you… those are erased too. It's as though you were never there in the first place."

"Why are you telling me this?" Nero said quietly. "Are you threatening me?"

"Not exactly." Aliya said. "I just thought that maybe you would like to know-"

"Aliya I don't like you in that way and I never have. I belong to Natalya and I wish you would stop going on about this and leave me alone." Nero hissed.

Aliya's eyes narrowed.

"Well." she said. "Now I _am_ threatening you."


	50. Part Two: Chapter Eighteen

Aliya was pretty and Viktor was good looking enough that if you thought about it, you could see how they'd combined to make Natalya. But Aliya wasn't Natalie, though she felt the same in his arms.

He had the strange feeling of déjà vu, as though this might have happened before. He frowned. "Have we-"

"Yes, although I don't expect you to remember it. You were pretty, well, out of it." Aliya smiled.

From her place on the couch, Alia grunted and stirred.

"You should go look after her." Aliya propped herself up on one elbow. "I'll be waiting for you, Maxy…"

###

The cuts on Laura's legs had not stopped bleeding. Natalie rubbed some of her blood onto a towel and turned on her blackbox. "H.I.V. , can you analyze this?"

"Certainly."

"Check for platelets." Natalie said, standing up. Diana grabbed her arm.

"Mommy, my stomach hurts…"

"Ask Saffron for some medicine." Natalie said, picking up Poppy. Diana threw herself down onto the floor and began to cry.

Otto/Odette kicked Laura gently. "How're you doing?"

"Er… would you mind… not doing that?" Laura mumbled. "It feels weird."

"Yeah… right." Odette said, sitting up.

Natalie's blackbox beeped. "Scan complete. The sample shows few platelets. Which mean that the blood will not clot-"

"Yes, I know what it means." Natalie interrupted. "How long will it take Laura to bleed to death at this rate?"

"Four hours."

"Thank you." Natalie gritted her teeth. Four hours. They could be back at the school in three. It would be okay, then.

Her blackbox beeped again. She picked it up. "Hello?"

It was Timothy. "Um, we have a problem."

"What now? Did Pike turn them into rabbits or something? Because I have honestly had enough of-"

"No!" Timothy yelled. "We've lost Hope."

"Hope?" Natalie sighed. "Don't be ridiculous, Timothy. The explosion wasn't that bad. You and Kade will survive, at least. Besides, it wasn't your fault-"

"No." Timothy said. "No, your sister."

"Oh."

"Yeah…"

"Mommy, it _hurts._" Diana wailed, tugging on her jacket. Poppy kicked out at her and she fell over, wailing.

Natalie sighed. "Well, that's another problem entirely…"


	51. Part Two: Chapter Nineteen

_He heard her scream from the bathroom and came running. "Natalya?"_

_She was crouched in the bathtub, curling into a ball. He pulled her into a sitting position and hugged her. "Hey. It's okay. What's wrong? I can fix it."_

"_I'm going… going… going to…" She was choking on her own sobs. _

"_Going to what?" He looked down at what was in her hand. "Oh god, Natalya. A baby?"_

"_No." She threw her arms around his neck. "A monster!"_

###

Natalie jumped as the first explosion rocked the ship. She sighed. _Remind me to put weapons on these. We're sitting ducks. But… they shouldn't be able to see us-_

"We're losing altitude!" Tobias called.

"Great." Natalie muttered. "Alex, you're good at crashing things- do something!"

"Thanks." Alex muttered, heading for the controls. "Open the hatch and get ready to jump as soon as possible!"

"Do we have parachutes?"

"We're losing a _lot_ of altitude!" Tobias bellowed.

Natalie swore. "No time. Alex, crash us!" She picked up Diana with one arm and Poppy with the other. Sepia punched the switch to open the loading ramp.

Another explosion.

Sepia punched it again. "It's jammed!"

"It can't be jammed!" Natalie yelled, real fear going through her.

"It IS jammed!" Raven yelled, clinging to his mother's arm.

"UN-JAM IT!" Odette screamed.

Sepia banged on the switch.

"WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!" Alex bellowed.

They crashed.

Natalie was throw out through the window, Poppy slipping from her arms. She landed in the water and immediately began to swim, dragging Diana beside her. Raven was next to her. It was a good thing she had ordered that her children be trained. She supposed she had anticipated this sort of situation.

She looked back and saw Otto dragging Laura, Alex clinging to a piece of metal and trying to reach Sepia. Once she'd gotten her kids to shore, she'd have to go and help-

From on shore, Hope took aim and carefully emptied her pistol into her sister's head.


	52. Part Two: Chapter Twenty

The first bullet just grazed Natalie's forehead, causing her to drop Diana, who floundered in the water. The second drove into her skull next to the first one. She flopped backwards as the third one hit her, causing the other three to miss entirely.

Diana screamed the way only a little child could, kicking and thrashing in the water. A second later Raven was there. He scooped up his half-sister and started dragging her towards the shore.

"Mommy!" Diana screamed, fighting against her brother's strong arms.

"There's nothing- we- can- do!" Raven said, trying to drag her away.

Saffron appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Diana's other arm. "Alex has Poppy. And I have… one of Otto and Laura's babies." Her eyes opened wide in shock and grief as she saw Natalie. "Oh my god is she dead?!"

"I don't know." Raven said. "We should probably go to shore though before we all get hypothermia."

"But Mum-"

"Honestly, you're all idiots!" Raven bellowed. "We can't do Mum any good if we drown!"

"Well you don't have to scream of me, I'm only trying to not be so _selfish!_"

"Oh, so I'm selfish, for wanting to survive and not bother dragging around a body?!"

"SHUSH!" Diana screamed.

Saffron and Raven looked at each other, and then Raven started for shore and Saffron for her mother, who was sinking. Saffron realized that her brother was right- she was getting cold. It was hard to breath.

_Why couldn't we fall in some place warm?_

She grabbed her mother's wrist and her limited medical training took over- she checked for a pulse. It was faint but it was there.

_Hah! Raven you idiot- I was right!_

She continued to swim but Natalie was so _heavy_ and she was so _tired…_

_If I just stop and wait for a second… it'll be fine, right?_

She closed her eyes and her grip on the baby slipped. It screamed, jolting her out of her cold-induced daze. Saffron bit her lip and started to swim as fast as she could.

Her lips were blue when she reached shore. Alex, Sepia, Odette, Laura, Raven, Diana and Poppy were waiting for her. Gracie and Tobias were right behind.

Laura, sitting on the sand, held up her hands and Saffron gave her the baby. She dropped her mother and sat down beside her, too exhausted to do anything more.

"Angelique and Viktor's baby." Odette said, frowning. "Where are they?"

Laura, who was nursing her daughter, started to cry.

Natalie coughed water onto the sand and reached for Odette's ankle. "Mu… m…"


	53. Part Two: Chapter Twenty One

Natalie's head hurt. Her mother, or a younger version of her mother, stood in front of her holding four cards. On each was a picture of one of her children.

"Choose." Raven said quietly. "You must live and one of them will have to be sacrificed."

"Otto." Natalie responded promptly.

Raven sighed. "I understand the thought process there… but you can't do that."

"Who says?" snapped Natalie.

"Viktor."

"I've always hated that guy." She breathed in and out. "Sacrificed? So… killed? Like what happened to Alia when Laura came back?"

"Exactly." Raven said.

"I don't… I can't pick!"

"It will be stronger if it's one of your daughters." Raven added.

"So Raven's out." Natalie gritted her teeth. "Fine. Saffron. Kill Saffron."

###

Evan appeared, carrying all four of Alia's children. "I have names now!" he declared. "The girl is Samantha… and the boys are Anthony, Dylan and Ken!"

"Ken?!" Saffron scoffed. "You're going to name him _Ken?!_ As in, Barbie's boyfriend Ken?"

Evan looked hurt. "Well, yes…"

"Wow." Saffron sighed. "And you were drowning and you decided to come up with your kid's names?"

"It needed to be- Saffron!"

The small girl suddenly collapsed onto the sand. Poppy quickly confirmed what the others had already guessed- she was dead.

"Like Alia." whispered Laura.

"Hey." said a voice.

Alex turned to see Hope. She was holding a gun and seemed to be reloading it. "Viktor is waiting for you."

"Where?" Alex demanded.

"Where Mum died." Hope said quietly. "The first time."

Then she vanished into thin air.

Natalie sat up. "D #n, I hate that place." She yawned. "So… anyone ready for another suicide mission?"

Alex laughed. "Always, my dear dead sister."


	54. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Two

Viktor was a little pissed off.

He knew it was stupid and childish, but he couldn't stand the fact that _Natalya-_ the stupid, useless one who knew nothing about science or math or anything that was _really_ useful- had managed to create something like Hallie.

(He was ignoring the fact that Raven hadn't had a single day of normal schooling in her entire life, and that given the fact that her entire education had been on how to kill people, she was actually rather smart)

The truth was that Raven herself had very little to do with Hallie. They'd found a lot of stuff they needed for her in Sirius's apartment, and then Laura and Timothy had done the rest. Nero had helped. Raven had complained and argued with him. Each to their own...

"I... I'm a robot," Hallie said.

"Yep," said Viktor.

"A robot," Hallie repeated.

"Yes. Or rather a human brain in a robotic body," Viktor said. "It's quite fascinating, really,"

"I don't want to be 'fascinating'," Hallie snarled. She grabbed him by the collar. "I want out of this body!"

"I can't do that," said Viktor.

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't have another body for you. You'd die,"

"Then how do I get another body?!" Hallie yelled.

"The same way everyone else in the world gets a new person, of course," Viktor said.

###

It took Nero a while to notice her, because she was standing in the shadows like a ghost

"Natalya." He stood up. "You're back!"

She was startled when he threw his arms around her and spun her around, lifting her feet off the ground. She was in the form of a fifteen year old girl, and she was even smaller than she was normally. She laughed and kicked at the air.

"What happened? Why did you have to leave?"  
She bit her lip. "Max..."

He kissed her.

She wriggled away from him. "Max, you're my father,"

He shrugged. "Yeah?"

"So we can't…"

"Natalya, if you don't want that to matter, it doesn't have to matter,"

"But-"

"You want to have a baby." Nero said. He touched her chest. "You have a heartbeat. This is the closest to living you're going to get. If you want that to happen, it has to happen _now,"_

"Okay." Raven sighed. "Let's have some father-daughter bonding time, then,"


	55. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Three

Natalie felt nervous the instant they got inside the old base. Every inch of her screamed to run and hide. This was so obviously a trap…

Alex grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Laura and the kids are safe, so there's nothing to worry about."

"It's not _them _I'm worried about." She looked around at their little band- Alex, Sepia, herself, Otto, Shelby and Wing, who they'd picked up at H.I.V.E. while dropping Laura off, and Tobias and Raven, who had refused to leave with the other children.

Otto rubbed his head. "I'm worried about Laura too…"

"That's not what I just said…" Natalie muttered. She frowned. "Has anyone ever noticed how everybody loves Laura?"

Otto frowned. "Are you jealous again? I thought you were over me."

"No, I mean… Sparrow saved her baby even though she was told to kill it. Viktor, who seemed totally devoted to Raven's mum, suddenly decides that he wants a new partner. Alex… Alex, you hate _everybody,_ and you love her. And Otto, she wasn't the first girl you had an incident with. So why did you decide to stay with her after she was pregnant?"

"Um… I liked her I guess?" Otto said.

"That's my point! _Everyone_ likes her!" Natalie exclaimed.

"I do not _hate everyone._" Alex snapped.

"Yes you do." said Natalie.

"I do not!"

"Fine, then who do you hate?" Alex said.

"Girls." Alex said. "Kids. Old people. Policemen. Politicians. Teachers. Anyone who makes a rule I have to follow. Older sisters. Younger sisters. Younger brothers. Albino clones. Ninja assassins. People who think they're smarter then me. Cats-" He frowned. "Wait, no actually I like cats… why are you all laughing?"

Natalie sighed. "My point is that it's almost… well, I wonder if maybe it's some sort of power or something." Natalie said.

"The power to be likeable?" Alex said. "Sounds boring to me."

"Let me guess, you hate that as well." Sepia said, smirking.

"Alex… tell us how you _really_ feel." Shelby said.

Alex crossed his arms, pouting.

"So." Shelby said, glancing at Otto. "Speaking of Laura… is she pregnant yet or have you managed to stay away from her for more than five minutes at a time?"

Otto looked extremely distraught. "Actually… Laura doesn't want to have any more children."

_Well, it's about time._ thought everyone else present.


	56. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Four

When Raven woke up the next morning Alia Malpense was shaking her awake.

Nero looked down towards her. "Natalya, you look really pale, are you okay-"

She stood up and ran for what had to be the bathroom. She barely made it inside before she was sick in the toilet. She threw up again, then turned around as someone entered. She screamed as the familiar white-haired figure entered and set one hand on her shoulder. With an easy move, she threw him off. "But Natalie destroyed you! She said-"

"Natalya-" started Overlord. She attacked him then, slamming him into the sink. He grabbed her shoulder and slapped her across the face. Slowly, his face melted into Nero's.

Raven sat down hard. She was breathing very fast, hyperventilating and she couldn't stop. She crawled across the floor and threw up again. And again.

Nero stroked the hair off her forehead. He looked worried. "It isn't supposed to happen this fast."

"I'm okay." Raven gasped. "I'm okay..."

He pulled her into his lap. "No, you are not okay. What we're doing is impossible and unnatural. It's going to have some effect on the mother."

"At least we know it worked." Raven ventured softly.

Nero pulled her close to him, tucking her head under his chin. "That's right." He smiled. "Don't worry; everything will be just fine."

###

"Well…" said Sepia thoughtfully. "That just means you can't have kids on purpose, which you never did anyway… so I think it's okay-"

CLICK.

Sepia looked down at the small silver wire that lay broken beneath her foot. "That cannot be good."

The corridor suddenly came alive with gunfire. Natalie was knocked aside by somebody heavy and lay underneath them uncomfortably. She slowly sat up. "Thank you, Alex."

Her brother only grunted. Tobias pulled him off her and Natalie screamed in shock and horror. She cradled her brother closer to her as blood dripped down his neck from his damaged throat.

"Sorry." said Alex. "That was stupid… I should have…" He started coughing and couldn't stop.

"Alex." Natalie hissed. "as headmistress of the Hive of Interesting Vibrant Elephants, and a member of the ruling council of the Gluttonous Llamas Of Very Europe, or whatever the heck it is… as your sister… I command you to stay with me and protect me!" She could barely get the last few words out, she was sobbing so hysterically.

"Sorry, sis." Alex breathed. "I've never been… one for following… orders."

"I'm not ordering you." Sepia said, ripping off her sleeve and pressing it to his throat. "I'm stating a fact. You _will_ live, or I'll kill you! Got that?!"

"That's a bit… redundant, isn't it?" Alex muttered.

"Shut up or I'm going to kill you anyway." Sepia hissed.


	57. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Five

"Otto!" Shelby exclaimed, as though she had only just notice. "You're a… girl!"

"Er." said Otto. "Yes?"

"You didn't notice?" said Hope in disgust.

"Well, it's not like that much had to change." said Shelby. "I mean, he really could be either as he was… hey, now! That really could have hurt me if it had connected, Otto!"

Otto, not looking very sorry, grunted something that may have been an apology at his shoes.

"Oh, I accept-" Shelby frowned. "Wait one second, exactly when did _Hope_ get here?"

Hope, looking very smug and pleased with herself, was sitting a few feet away on a crate.

Natalie took a step forward. "Hope, please listen."

Hope grunted in reply.

"Look, I know you must have some reason to switch sides. And I'd like to know what it is. You're my sister and I care about you. If I can, I'll try and fix it so we can be a family again-"

"I. WANT. OTTO."

Hope had slid off her perch, so each work was punctuated by a stomp as she slowly advanced on Natalie.

"He's MINE and he will be FOREVER from this second forward if you want me back on your side."

"I can't do that." Natalie said softly. "It would literally kill Laura. But it's really not my decision how he feels anyway." Natalie turned to Otto.

"Sorry." Otto said. "I don't think a childish crush is enough of a reason to betray your family anyway."

"Technically she is not betraying her family." Wing pointed out. "Seeing as Viktor is Hope's grandfather-"

"Oh, I'm not working for Viktor anymore." Hope sang. Natalie felt a rush of dread. Who was coming back from the dead this time? Or was it an entirely new enemy altogether?

"I have the full authority of…" Hope smirked and began to imitate Natalie's hysterical voice. "Of the Global League of Villainous Enterprises and the _new and improved_ headmistress of the Higher Institute of Villainous Education has an order from them to eliminate you and your little band of troublemakers."


	58. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Six

Laura sat with her legs crossed as Gracie came in. She placed the damp cloth she was carrying against her mother's forehead.

"Thanks." Laura grunted. She sighed. She didn't know what was making her so sick but if she had a guess it would be that while Viktor had been creating her new body, that wasn't all that he had created…

"You know this is going to be my twenty-third baby, right?" Laura stroked Gracie's soft curls. "Twenty three… I don't want to think about that." She sighed. "Fifteen, no, sixteen from Viktor… one from Alex and six from Otto… I really hate my life."

Gracie frowned. She wasn't very good at lip-reading yet. "Sorry?"

_Nothing you need to worry about._ Laura signed.

"Okay." Gracie cuddled closer to her. "Are we going to take care of Alia's babies?"

Laura nodded, pulling Gracie onto her lap.

"Good." said Gracie. "You like babies, don't you?"

Laura looked away and slowly shook her head. "Not anymore, lovie."

###

Raven spun around as she scampered down the sidewalk. "It's so pretty out it just makes me want to skip!"

"You made it pretty out." Nero said. "And did you seriously just say that?"

"Well," said Alia. "She does seem to be skipping…"

They were walking down a city block looking for new clothes for Raven, who seemed to be very excited over… something. She spun around again. "Come _on_ you guys!"

"So… does this whole place look like this?" Alia asked.

"What? No. It looks like whatever I-we- want it to." Nero said. "Everyone else-" he indicated the people on the street. "-could be seeing something completely different."

"Interesting." said Alia.

"Ooh, look at that! Gelato! I love gelato!" Raven grabbed Nero's arm and dragged him forward. "We should go get some!"

"I really do not think you need gelato when you're already like this, especially at ten in the morning." Nero kissed the top of her head. "Now take a breath… and calm down a little. Please?"

"Oh my goodness, look!" Raven bent down suddenly and picked something up.

Nero frowned. "Is that a dog?"

"A puppy!" Raven cuddled it against her cheek. "Isn't it adorable?"

"It is pretty cute." Nero muttered.

"Can I please, please please keep it?" Raven begged. "I promise I'll take care of it and everything… really well… please?!"

"Don't make that face at me." Nero said, rolling his eyes. "You can't have the dog…"

"Please please?" Raven whined. "It'll keep me company… in my weakened state…"

"You're not weakened." Nero said.

"I've always wanted to have a dog!" Raven wailed. "And this one's just a puppy… I bet he was sick or something, he probably doesn't even have an owner!" She started stroking the dog. He was tiny, but since he was a Husky he was probably going to grow much bigger… and cause trouble…

"No way." Nero snapped.

Raven got teary. "But… b-but…"

Then she sat down on the pavement and began sobbing hysterically. Nero sighed.

"Natalya, you can keep the dog… for now. Okay? God."

"Is she always like this?" Alia muttered.

"I'm chalking this one up to hormones." Nero said ruffling Raven's hair like she was the dog.


	59. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Seven

Raven held the dog to her chest as she curled up next to Nero, her head on his shoulders. Nero kissed her cheek.

"I miss Evan." Alia muttered into her gelato.

"Sorry." Nero touched her shoulder. "You're far too young to be here. If there was a way to get you back…" He sighed. "Well. How did you die, by the way? Or do you not remember?"

"I don't know… all of the sudden everything hurt and I was here." Alia said.

"You might have been shot, then." Nero shrugged. "Although I'm not sure why someone would want to shoot you…"

"I was working undercover for G.L.O.V.E. a lot. I killed a lot of people." Alia said offhandedly. "That may have been it…" She frowned. "Is she… asleep?"

Nero looked down at Raven. "It… appears so…" He sighed.

Raven shifted slightly and muttered something about cantaloupe.

Nero tickled her stomach and she stood up straight and shrieked with laughter. "If you keep being cute like that I'm going to have to jump on you," he said in a seductive voice. "and that is going to make poor Alia _very_ uncomfortable. So why don't you sit still for a few seconds and act normal?"

Raven made a face and curled up on Nero's lap, licking at his gelato. Nero held it above his head teasingly. "Honestly…"

###

"It's so fun to destroy someone's carefully constructed life." Hope said happily, watching Natalie's expression. "Would anyone like join in? Not Alex or Natalie, of course, or the kids… Sepia? Shelby? Wing?"

"None of us would never desert our friends." Shelby snarled.

"Actually…" Wing took a step forward. "That sounds like a very interesting proposition."

Shelby stared at him. "You can't be serious! Not now!" She flattened her hand over her stomach.

"Shelby, be quiet unless you want to join me." Wing said calmly.

"There's no way I would do that." Shelby hissed.

Wing walked over to join Hope. She looked him up and down. "Hey, you are pretty cute. Mmm… now prove yourself."

"What do you wish for me to do?"

"Shoot blondie, will you?" Hope yawned. "She's annoying me."

Wing drew a gun from his belt and leveled it at Shelby's chest. "All right."

"Wing, don't do this!" Shelby hissed, taking a step forward. "This is stupid-"

BANG!

She hit the ground hard, nearly colliding with Natalie's knees. Shelby coughed once, then went still.

Natalie opened her mouth. "I-I can't believe you actually did that."

Wing lowered the gun. "Me neither."


	60. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Eight

"Shelby!" Otto grabbed her wrist. Thankfully, he could feel the tiniest flicker of a pulse. Trying to make his voice as shocked and grief-stricken as possible, which wasn't difficult as his best friend had just shot his wife, he gasped. "She- she's gone!"

Wing shoved the gun back into his pocket and stared down at his shoes. Hope laughed.

"One down, six to go." She drew her own gun and leveled it at Alex. "Which one goes first, you or your sister?"

"I'll go." Alex let go of Sepia's shoulder and drew one of Raven's swords.

"How do you still have those things?" Natalie demanded.

"I found them… under my bed… on Thursday." Alex panted.

"Um… you're sort of gray." Natalie pointed out. "Maybe I should fight-"

"Don't… worry." Alex said. "I can still hold her… so you lot can leave."

"Alex…" Natalie frowned. She had the feeling that once again her brother was sacrificing himself to protect them, but she also knew that he wouldn't want him to say anything sappy. But she couldn't resist. "Don't… die."

Alex gave her a mocking salute. "I'll try not to, sis."

"Well this is all very touching." snapped Hope, rolling her eyes. "I think I'll just call in the-" She felt her belt, panicking. "What the-"

"Hello, Mum." said a shadowy figure beside her. She was tossing Hope's communicator up and down teasingly.

Hope flushed. "Mum…. But-" She winced. "You're dead! You have to be dead! I ordered you-"

"Silence." The figure was revealed to be a kid about Gracie's age. She had big feathery wings on her back, and as Alex watched she snatched a feather from the left one and glared at Hope. "I'm not going to let you kill your family."

"He's not my family anymore." Hope snarled, and shot Alex in the chest.

The girl threw the feather, and it stuck Hope to the wall behind her by her sleeve. Hope snarled and snatched at it, but it burned her hand when she touched it and she recoiled in pain.

Alex collapsed. From down the hall Sepia screamed "ALLLLIIIXX!" as she turned around but Otto grabbed her arm and dragged her forward.

"It doesn't matter if we don't get away." he hissed.

Sepia gave him a tearful nod.

Alex struggled to his feet. "That… was _not_ a sisterly thing to do."

"Did you hear me?" Hope hissed. "You _aren't_ my family."

"Then it's okay if we duel to the death, then?" Alex asked.

"It would be my genuine pleasure." Hope said with a smirk.


	61. Part Two: Chapter Twenty Nine

Hallie stared down at herself with amazement as she sat up in bed. "It worked."

"Of course it did." Viktor had been up and about already when she'd woken. "It's going to hurt, though. Sorry about that."

Hallie touched her stomach, which was already very round. "So how long do I have?"

"Five or six hours." Viktor said. "Then your daughter will be ready. But I'll have to age her after she's born, otherwise you'll be stuck in the body of an infant."

"Right." Hallie smiled as she stared down at her hand. She was going to escape this artificial prison soon.

###

Natalie jumped into the Shroud. "TAKE OFF RIGHT NOW!" she bellowed at the pilot. Startled, he started the engine as the others boarded.

Otto lay Shelby down on the seat. "Laura is gonna _kill_ me." He whispered.

"Really?" Natalie said. "That's all you have to say?"

"Well, her best friend's dying and we all know Laura had that _thing_ with Alex, so if he dies too…"

"M okay." Shelby muttered, slowly rubbing her stomach. "Ahhh…"

"He shot in and down so I don't think anything vital got hit too badly." Natalie said. "Although I can't be sure, if you get medical treatment quickly you should survive. I don't know about your baby." She turned to Shelby. "It's not Wing's, isn't it?"

Shelby stared up at her. "How… did you…?"

"It's okay, you don't have to explain." Natalie shrugged. "I don't really care right now, if you want to tell me do it later. I need to send a message to Laura and tell her to get out of there before Hope sends the Reapers or something…"

Otto grabbed her shoulder. "You mean Laura's in danger?"

"She'll be fine, Otto." Natalie dug in her pocket. "Oh, and I figured out how to turn you back into a guy again… this thing returns you to human form but switches your gender, so if you just shoot yourself with it again you'll be back to normal."

"Natalie?" Otto said. "Have you always worn that?"

"Worn what?"

"That ring, the one with the red stone…" Otto pointed to her finger.

"Weird." Natalie muttered, glancing down at it, but she made no move to remove it.

"Laura… had one too." Otto said quietly. "On a ribbon around her neck… ever since Viktor brought her back-"

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that." Natalie said quietly.

"What?"

"Well, Viktor needed my project to bring her back right? But it was just more stuff on how to make a better artificial intelligence." Natalie said thoughtfully.

"And what does that have to with anything?"

"It means that… whatever Viktor brought back…" Natalie said, pulling out her blackbox. "may not actually be the true Laura Brand."


	62. Part Two: Chapter Thirty

**Sorry I couldn't do the battle between Hope and Alex- I thought I was on Chapter 28… **

Alex grunted as he slowly sat up. His whole body ached. _God, did she have to throw me halfway down the hall? Stupid little sister. _

And apparently in Hope speak a fight to the death loosely translated to 'if you win I'll persuade you to let me survive, if I win I get to kidnap you and torture you until you die'. Which is why she'd knocked him unconscious and dragged him off to who knows where.

He rubbed his head. He could swear he heard someone crying. "Hello?"

"Alex?!"

"Laura!" He looked around. There she was, tossed into a corner, bloody and bruised and forgotten. Alex came towards her and pulled her into his lap.

She was injured all over, covered in cuts and bruises. Alex immediately began tending to her. She wasn't looking at him, thought, just looking… up. "Alex?"

"I'm right here, Laura."

"Where's Joy?" she asked.

"Is that the newest addition?" Alex asked, scanning the room.

"Yeah…" Laura said. "I don't know where the triplets or Alia's children went… Kade and Evan and Timothy got taken too… and Diana and Poppy… and they were hurting me and they- they did something to my eyes Alex and I can't see!"

Alex had by this time located Joy and carefully placed her in Laura's arms. He looked closer at Laura's face. Her eyes did seem strangely cloudy. He kissed her nose- well, he meant to, but he missed and got her lips instead. "Don't worry about it. We'll be just fine for now."

###

Natalie slammed her fist into the wall. Shelby rolled her eyes. "It's not going to do you much good, punching the wall… plus, you could knock a hole in it."

"I'm not going to do something like that." Natalie snapped. "You seemed to be doing a very good job of lying on that cot, so could you go back to that? Quietly?"

Shelby huffed and rolled over. Otto set his hand on Natalie's shoulder. Natalie turned and glared at him. "God, it's been three hours since Laura got captured and you're already-"

"I'm just _patting_ you!" Otto snapped. "I wasn't even _thinking _about anything like that…"

"But now you are." Natalie said.

"I- no! I'm not!" Otto sighed. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Well…" Natalie said. "I can track Alex and Laura and nearly everyone else on this thing."

"So… we know where they are?"

"No. They scrambled the signal somehow so it says it's coming from Neptune… but I know if they're alive or dead."

"So?!" Otto spluttered.

"Alex is alive." Natalie said. "And Laura isn't."

Otto let out a choked gasp.

"But the thing is…" Natalie said slowly. "I don't register as living either."


	63. Part Two: Epilogue

Epilogue

_Hallie slowly sat up, rubbing her head. She stared down at herself and experimentally flexed her fingers. _

"_You placed the tracker?" Viktor was saying. "Great. Thank you."_

"_Who are you talking too?" Hallie looked down at the metal table she was lying on and stared at her reflection. She still had dark hair, but her eyes were now brown like Viktor's and her face was narrower. _So this is what my daughter would have looked like… had I not stolen her body...

"_The prime minister." Viktor said. "Thankfully, he… well, it's a long story. Anyway, we should be able to find Natalia and her friends now."_

_He crossed over to the computer and typed for a few seconds, then he swore. _

"_What is it?" Hallie crossed to go and look at the screen. She frowned. _

_The screen was black except for a picture of a skull in the middle. Lettering around it read 'You have just lost all Hope.'_

"_I really do hate my sisters." Hallie muttered. _

_###_

_Natalie grunted as she sat up in bed. _Who is texting me in the middle of the night? That's seriously dangerous to your health…

_As she read the sender she smiled. _Wing.

"_Hey, Shelby!" she called. _

_Shelby looked over her shoulder and three seconds later screamed. "I KNEW IT!"_

_###_

_Raven groaned as she rolled over, pulling the sheets up to her chin. "You get that, will you?"_

"_All right." Nero stood up and went over to the door. He opened it. Siri was standing there holding her side. _

"_Oh my god, are you all right?" Nero said, grabbing his daughter's shoulders. He looked down and saw dark tendrils slowly spreading out from the gaping hole in her side. _

_Alia appeared behind her. "I thought we could do some looking around… you know, we're dead so nothing's going to hurt us… obviously… well…" She looked over at Raven lying on her bed. "How are you doing?"_

"_She can't move too much or it hurts." Nero turned around. "That means _stay in bed!_" he snapped, seeing Raven about to get up._

_Raven growled at him and pulled the covers over her head. _

"_Where were you?" Nero demanded. _

"_I was talking to Ashe… I guess she didn't really appreciate it." Alia seemed to be studying him. "Oh, and Sparrow said it's twins." _

"_Great, we skipped ten and went straight to eleven." Nero muttered. _

"_We'll just have to shoot for twenty then!" Raven called from under the blanket. _

"_No." Nero muttered. _

"_Well if she is _really _your daughter then you were already at ten." Alia reasoned. _

"_Right." Nero sighed. For a moment he looked so sad and lost that Alia closed her eyes, leaned in, and kissed him. _


	64. Part Three: Chapter One

Raven coughed as the smell of blood filled her mouth and nose. She looked around and all she could see was red.

_Am I dying again?!_

But no, when she'd woken up after the explosion she'd been minus her legs and half one arm and she seemed to be in one piece now… in fact she didn't seemed to be hurt at all… she was just covered in blood and there was blood all around her and soaking her clothes and it seemed like there was more of it now and then all of the sudden she was desperately trying to stay afloat in an ocean of her own blood and it was in her mouth and her nose and her eyes and she couldn't breath-

"Maaaaax!" she screamed. She sat bold upright in bed, feeling the tears coming and let out a loud wail, like a child.

There was no response. Then something big and furry catapulted down the hall and onto her bed. She laughed weakly and pulled her dog into her lap, burying her face in her neck. "Ohhh…"

The Husky barked.

"Don't worry, I'm fine now, Kate." She took a deep breath, then another and another. Her heart rate began to slow to normal.

She glanced over at the crib by the huge bed where her two youngest children were…. Hibernating? She didn't know? She'd given birth to them nine months ago, four months early and they'd remained in these egg-like things made of some sort of jelly, asleep. Neither she nor Nero knew why, or when they'd wake up. So now she was all alone, except for her dog, two comatose babies and-"

"Claesira?!" she called.

Siri stuck her head in the doorway. "Mother, honestly. I wish you would cease referring to me by my full name as I have been known as 'Siri' since I could talk. Besides… my full name doesn't even make any sense."

"Yes well… I was on a lot of painkillers when you were born." Raven yawned. "Has there been any communication from Max?"

_And you were especially painful... because…_

"_That's my business." Raven hissed. _

"_How about paying my back for the information, huh?" Furan grabbed her shoulder and shoved her into the wall. Raven tried to break away, but he was too strong-_

_###_

_"I've got it!" Laura yelled, dashing out into the hallway. "I have the kill code!"  
She saw Raven, sitting on the floor, her shoulders shaking, her clothes in tatters. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Furan was nowhere in sight._

"Mum?" Siri asked. "Get over here!"

"What is it?" Now that Siri was getting older (Or at least more mature, because you can't exactly grow after you're dead) she was starting to see signs of Furan more and more. Or maybe she was just paranoid. Raven shook her head and stood up.

"They're…. hatching!" Siri said. "God, never thought I'd say _that_ sentence…"


	65. Part Three: Chapter Two

**Bit of a maturity warning on the Nero/Alia stuff…**

Alex kissed Laura's head as he helped her into the cot. "How bad was it?"

"Okay." Laura said as Joy nestled into her shoulder. Her newest baby, a boy named Gabriel was sleeping in her lap. Ever since they'd first been captured every couple of days Laura had been dragged away to be tortured. It was never anyone else, just Laura and it made Alex very frustrated to watch her slowly fade away into a shadow of her former self. Not only that but a sweet girl made defenseless seemed to be too much for some of the guards at the G.L.O.V.E. base to resist. Laura didn't know the identity of the father of the baby she was carrying and being violated like that seemed to be breaking her even faster than the torture.

"I'm glad." Alex said. "I'll get you some soup and then you can eat, okay?"

"Mmkay." Laura whispered, hugging Gabriel and Joy tight to her chest. Alex came back a few minutes later and he spoon-fed her and Joy dinner. He sat next to her and Laura leaned her head on his shoulder. Alex kissed her forehead.

"You're feverish." he said. "Do any of your wounds hurt? Sorry, stupid question… stand up and I'll check you for infection."

Laura did. Alex found three infected cuts, two on her arms and the worst one on her chest. After that Laura started shaking so badly she had to sit down.

"God, are you okay? You look like you're going to fall over." Alex snatched the babies from Laura. "Get back in the cot. I'm going to put the babies to bed and then I'm going to help you, okay?"

Laura nodded, then stood up, took two wobbly steps and landed with a sickening thud on the ground, her hand twisted at an odd angle beneath her.

###

Alia frowned as she stepped out of the shower. "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah I- Oh, crap-"

Nero dove for the phone, nearly dropping the towel around his waist. "Natalya? What's up with you?"

"They're hatching!" Raven yelled. "Get here fast!"

Nero glanced over at Alia. "I can try but I don't know how long it'll take me to get there."

"Just hurry!" Raven begged, then hung up.

Alia sat down on the bed next to him, draping her arms over his shoulder. "She's… a little naïve… It makes me feel sort of guilty, because she'd never even dream that you're messing around with me."

"Yes, I suppose." Nero leaned back. "She never does."

"You should probably put on some clothes and go and meet your kids." Alia said softly in his ear.

"Five more minutes?" Nero asked, pulling himself onto the bed next to her.

Alia sighed. "Oh all _right…_" she said before pulling him down for a long kiss.


	66. Part Three: Chapter Three

Natalie glanced at Raven in the mirror as she fiddled with her hair. "_Why_ are you staring at me, Raven? I already told you I was going out, it's nothing to get excited about."

"I was just making sure you didn't do anything stupid." Raven said.

"What, like you know anything about makeup. You're a twelve year old boy." Natalie stood up. "Besides, I know how to get ready for a date!"

"Why are you going out with some guy when you're in love with Otto?"

"Because Otto is _married._" Natalie said.

"Then how come he got Sepia pregnant?"

"That is Otto's problem and I are _not_ getting involved with that." Natalie kissed Raven on the forehead as she pulled on her high heels. Raven rubbed at the lipstick smear, rolling his eyes. "Now be good…"

###

Raven hugged Nero when he came in. "Why are you so wet?" she asked as he stroked her hair.

"Oh… it was raining." Nero invented.

"Really?" Raven frowned. "It must have cleared up…" She looked up at him. "You've got soap in your hair, Max."

"Annicka was washing her car."

"In the rain?"

"That was _before_ it started raining." Nero said. "It's been a bit of a strange day."

"I see." Raven laughed. "Well come on then…."

Nero sighed as he followed her into the bedroom. _Either she's remarkably good at hiding being suspicious… or she just really is this naïve. _

###

Raven picked up the baby just as she began to cry. Everything seemed so perfect now… she had her Max and now two precious daughters. She kissed the baby's head.

"I think they both need a bath." Nero said, picking up the other. Raven slipped her hand in his and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You look tired…"

"No I'm fine." Raven said. "I slept in really late… had a really bad drea- KAAAAATE!"

Nero managed to jump out of the way just before the gigantic dog knocked Raven onto her back, licking her face.

"Are you okay?!"

Raven moaned as she sat up. "I-"

There was a crash from the other part of the house. Nero turned towards the door just in time to see a dozen armed men crash through it.

"You are now under arrest!"


	67. Part Three: Chapter Four

**Okay- warning. In the next few chapters a lot of characters are going to die. Don't worry- most of them are going to come back. Just so you know….**

Shelby checked her blackbox again, just to make sure. There was nothing from Wing. She closed her eyes and sighed. She missed him so much… why did he have to go and become a double agent without telling her?

Sepia sat down on the couch next to her. "Hey."

"Hi." Shelby leaned back. Her daughter Emma was asleep in her lap. "Natalie's gone?"

"Yeah, off with her boyfriend…" Sepia frowned. "So who is her father, then, if it's not Wing?"

She pointed to Emma. Shelby frowned. "Well, a while ago I got kidnapped… it didn't even having anything to do with H.I.V.E…. it was just bad luck and we weren't going to have the baby except then Wren got hit by a car and-" Her voice broke.

"So… you've had a pretty hard-"

Sepia screamed as the bullet tore through her chest. She collapsed onto her front.

"Sepia!" Shelby yelled, jumping to her feet before she was shot through the head. She fell onto the table with a crash. Emma started screaming, and Hallie shot her as well.

Hearing the commotion Otto burst into the room. He saw Hallie standing over Shelby and Sepia and yelled "What are you doing?!"

"Nothing much." Hallie said, then shot him in the chest.

###

Nero stroked Raven's hair. She was shaking and he couldn't figure out why. "Are you okay?"

"I really don't like… being in dark vans… with bars on the back window." Raven gasped into his shirt. Nero sighed.

"O… kay…" Nero said.

One of the twins, who they'd decided to name Shiane, started to cry. Viktor, sitting in the front, turned to face them. "Make her knock that off, will you?"

"What are you going to do to her?" Nero demanded. "To us?"

"I need you to come fully back to life." Viktor said. "And that requires the sacrifice of one of your children… the most accessible being right here."

"Natalya is already dead." Nero said, clinging tighter to Raven, who was rocking Shiane back and forth. She seemed to be trying to bury herself even deeper into his chest and was nearly hyperventilating, though he didn't know why.

"I'm going to destroy her soul." Viktor said. "That much power should be enough to reconnect your soul with a body. Unfortunately, _your_ body got blown up… however Hallie recently… moved so I have a space to put you."

"When are you going to do this?" Nero asked.

Raven whimpered in his arms. He stroked her cheek. She seemed suddenly very, very cold. He looked down at her, to reassure himself that for now, at least, she was here and safe.

"I feel… so cold…" Raven whispered.

"I can… see through you." Nero whispered, reaching down to touch her.

"Oh, it's already happening." said Viktor with a smile.


	68. Part Three: Chapter Five

Laura was on fire.

She thrashed in the narrow cot trying to find some way to make her situation better, to put it out, but she was helpless.

Alex watched her, helpless. She rolled onto her side and moaned for Otto. He took her hand and squeezed it. "I'm the only one here, sorry."

"Water…" Laura whispered.

Alex went to go get some. By the time he had come back, Laura was dead.

###

Hallie climbed back into the car. _Mission accomplished. _She laughed. Killing was fun. Anything dangerous was fun now. She was practically immortal, wasn't she? If she got hurt she could just have Viktor transfer her into another body. She was in the robot one now because being in her daughter's reminded her how weak actual humans were.

_Here's a question for Viktor… how the heck was I even able to have a daughter?_

Her phone rang. "Hello?" she said, answering it.

"Hallie, what are you doing!?"

"What do you mean?" She swallowed. "I just followed your orders- go to the house and kill everyone you find. And I did!"

"What?!" Viktor was silent for a moment. "Hallie, I gave you no such order."

Hallie frowned. "Then-"

"Get back here." Viktor snarled. "Get back here right now."

###

They arrived an office building, and Nero had to carry Raven up to one of the top floors where they were locked in a room. It certainly wasn't escape proof but Raven was in no shape to do anything and he wasn't leaving her.

He stroked her hair. _My daughter. _If only he had known. He would have stolen her away from Aliya, raised her in a beautiful house with everything she had ever wanted. The Furans would never have been able to steal her, to hurt her. And some day she would have met someone, and gotten married, and been happy… and able to walk down the street with her person she loved without getting shot disgusted looks.

He sighed and set his forehead against hers.

"_Max?!"_

_He turned to see Anastasia. "Oh… hello."_

"_(#$ , I haven't seen you in years." She winced. "Not since Aliya went and got herself killed… and her entire family… stupid Viktor."_

"_The little girl, the middle one, she survived." he said. _

"_Really, huh?" Anastasia frowned. "Maybe I'll track her down and adopt her." _

_Nero frowned. _

"_Just kidding." Anastasia said. "I'd make a terrible mommy." She laughed. _

"_So what have you been doing?"_

"_Looking for the *(^&*^ who killed my best friend since I was five." Anastasia said. "And when I do… they're gonna wish they had never been born." _

He had always wondered if she'd known that it had been him who had done it, and that's why she had sent Natalya after him, as a sort of sick joke. He remembered how desperate he had been to keep the truth from Natalya before… but now it suddenly didn't seem to matter.

"Hey, Raven." he said. "Can you hear me?"

She nodded.

"Then listen up, I've got something to tell you…"


	69. Part Three: Chapter Six

**Yes, the Aaron Natalie is dating is the same Aaron that Raven was 'investigating' back in Return. A lot of characters seem to be crossing over between those two series lately… **

Natalie closed her eyes as the pounding in her head intensified. She was used to pain in her chest but headaches were new. She hoped that this was not becoming a permanent fixture in her life.

Her date, Aaron looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, just… headache…" Natalie smiled at him.

"You look nice." Aaron said, squeezing her hand under the table.

Then an explosion flung her into unconsciousness.

At least, that was what if felt like to Natalie. She woke up a few minutes later… in the blue room she had been imprisoned in when Overlord had taken over her mind(**See Part Two of And Then There Was Cheese). **

"What?" Natalie said aloud.

"Momma!" Nico ran forward and threw his arms around her waist. Surprised, she patted his head. Saffron walked calmly behind him, both looking the same age they had when they'd been killed.

"Oh!" Natalie said, looking around. "Is there… any more of you?"

"Hey."

She turned around to see Mark, her beautiful Mark, smiling at her just a few feet away. And next to him… Raven.

"Wow. Hey, you guys… who are just illusions that my brain created." Natalie wiped at her eyes. "Gee… I don't know why I'm crying… um… I… um…"

Raven came closer to her and took Natalie's hands in her own. "It's okay- you don't have to hide it around us."

Angry at her own weakness, Natalie brushed away the tears. "What am I doing back here?" she demanded. "Overlord can't possess me anyway… he… it is dead."

Raven sighed. "You are correct. It is your other father who is the problem…"

###

When Alex came back from the bathroom, a handful of men were silently taking away something on a stretcher covered by a sheet. Alex watched in bewilderment for a second, until a hand and a few red curls slipped out from underneath the sheet as it was taken out the door.

"LAAAAAAUUUUUUUURA!" Alex screamed. His next cry, an animal wail of pain and grief as two of the men held him back from reaching the body on the stretcher, was loud enough to wake the dead.

Almost.


	70. Part Three: Chapter Seven

Poppy was bored.

She stared down at the sleeping figures of Samantha, Anthony, Dylan and Ken. Diana was lazily playing with Kade's hair, which was shoulder length after months of being imprisoned. And that was the problem. There was nothing to do in a prison cell. At home, there were guns to play with and Otto to tease and book to read. The only interesting thing to do here was play with the babies… and now they were sleeping.

Evan suddenly coughed, sitting up and looking around. The room seemed to be suddenly filled with white fog. Poppy frowned as the triplets collapsed to the ground, then shock Diana. "Hold your breath!" she hissed, then pretended to collapse also.

They lay on the ground as people entered and Poppy heard the sound of a gunshot. She opened one eye a crack as three more followed and saw that a group of guards was walking around the room shooting everyone.

She grabbed Diana's arm and jumped up, dragging her sister with her to the door. To her shock, Kade followed. She heard the guards fire at them and Diana screamed. Kade threw her sister's body over his shoulder before she could collapse as they raced down the long hallway filled with similar doors.

They burst through one at the end and were instantly surrounded by five men. Poppy scrutinized them for a second, then attacked. Once she had a gun from one, she shot three and Kade took care of the last.

"How old are you?" he asked as they ran.

"Seven." Poppy said, glancing at him.

"You killed three men without hesitating." Kade said.

"I'm special." Poppy said with a smirk, skidding to a halt in front of a door. Kade opened it by ramming it with one shoulder.

"A staircase, huh?" Poppy said. "Let's head for the roof."

Kade nodded.

###

As Raven's form vanished completely, Nero felt a strange tingling sensation that had nothing to do with grief. He blinked, and all of the sudden he was slumped over a table in… a restaurant?

"Natalie?" a man's voice said. "Natalie, are you all right?"

Nero sat up. He felt… strange. His head hurt and every time his heart beat he was aware of a faint throbbing sensation in his chest. And when he looked down.

_WHAT THE- WHY AM I SUDDENLY A GIRL!? WHAT THE *(&*( IS GOING ON!?_

###

Just before Laura opened her eyes, she heard something… a scream or cry that sounded extremely familiar. But that thought was driven from her might as she saw Otto lying on the floor next to her.

She shook him awake. "Otto?!"

"Laura!" He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her. "But- you were captured- how are you still here?!"

"Otto…" Laura frowned. "I think I might have died again."

"Then… we're both dead?" Otto asked.

"Yeah." said a voice. "You are. And I brought you here so you wouldn't be Erased."

"What?" Laura demanded.

"Erased. It's what happens when you die here." Annicka turned to Otto. "Oh, Malpense, close your mouth. I won't hit you unless you've forgotten me."

"I most certainly haven't." Otto whispered.

"Otto? What's wrong? I-Is there something you haven't told me?"

"Annicka and I… didn't exactly part on the best of terms." Otto muttered.

"Pu- _lease. _You made me jump into a volcano." Annicka said.

"What?!" Laura spluttered.

"It's a _long_ story." Otto muttered.


End file.
